Review by Choice Review
Jack, Moscow bureau chief of the Financial Times, offers the general reader an engaging look into Russia under Vladimir Putin, the reasons for Putin's strong popular support, his role in the renewed war in Chechnya, and the ways in which the country has changed under his leadership. Responding to the subtitle's rather naive question of whether there can be reform without democracy, Jack adds his support to the judgment that Putin has moved Russia in the direction of liberal authoritarianism, concentrating on economic growth and legality while expanding the political and societal control of the state. Although valuable in its accessibility and the many details derived from Jack's years in Russia and countless interviews, the book adds little to the existing literature on Russia and fewer insights into Putin himself than this reader had hoped. Jack is left with the same question as everyone else: what will happen to Russia when and if Putin leaves power? ^BSumming Up: Optional. General readers and lower-division undergraduates. E. Pascal SUNY at Buffalo
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In assessing Vladimir Putin's first term as Russia's president, Jack, Moscow bureau chief of the Financial Times, answers a very limited "yes" to the subtitle's question. His finely wrought political record of the country's last four years argues that a detailed understanding of Russia's particular combination of circumstances-Cold War security-state trauma; out-of-control crony capitalism; a simmering, terror-centered civil war-make Putin's autocracy more comprehensible, if not palatable or sustainable. A familiar introductory profile of a smart, engaged Putin; sketches of gulag survivor culture; Putin's rise from Petersburg-based bureaucrat to Yeltsin's handpicked successor, then autocratic ruler; and Chechnya's role in shaping Putin's rule since his appointment to the presidency in 2000 (with subsequent elections) form the book's succinct first half. The book's second half finely renders the fallout from Russia's disastrous privatization in the 1990s; in chapters like "Autumn of the Oligarchs," Jack (The French Exception) sees Putin as attempting to get the power brokers created by Yeltsin to serve the country with a combination of shrewd legislation, media control and raw power. It can be tough to keep track of the players in the shady doings of Yukos, Lukoil and other energy companies still in the news, but Jack's familiarity with and skepticism of them makes for directed reading. The result is an excellent (and wary) political and economic overview of an often opaque U.S. ally. Agent, Andrew Nurnberg. (Nov.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Jack, Moscow bureau chief of the Financial Times, sketches political events in Russia since 1998, drawing on his access to nearly all of the pols and political hacks who have shaped the current scene. His main concern is that "Putin appears to believe that reforming the economy to modernize the country is a far more urgent priority than building a democracy." The recent siege of the school in Beslan, which transpired after this book went to press, demonstrates one of Putin's real demons: the war in Chechnya. The tragedy in Beslan has put an even greater strain on democracy because it has allowed Putin to ask for even greater personal power, ending the direct, popular election of regional governors. Confirming the findings of more academic works, e.g., Lilia Shevtsova's Putin's Russia and Chrystia Freeland's Sale of the Century, though stylistically more like Anne Nivat's interview-based The View from the Vysotka, Jack's work argues persuasively that so far Russia's democracy has been a "virtual democracy" only and that the Russian people must learn the basics of democracy to make it work. Recommended for public libraries.-Harry Willems, Southeast Kansas Lib. Syst., Iola (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Or: Can democratic reform be entrusted to a former agent of the Soviet secret police? Boris Yeltsin took pains to present himself as a new breed of Russian democrat, writes Financial Times Moscow bureau chief Jack (The French Exception, not reviewed). But Yeltsin took even greater pains to create "a supra-presidential system," engineered a constitution that gave most powers to himself, and allowed him to designate his successor. That man, Vladimir Putin, has taken the challenge of reform seriously enough, Jack suggests, especially given his nation's lack of peaceful oppositional politics, even while playing both sides against an elusive middle and asserting "the restoration and clear reaffirmation of pride in the Soviet Union, stripped of its former ideology." Putin has weathered all kinds of storms, using the "unexpectedly popular" mess in Chechnya much as President Bush has used 9/11, forging alliances with labor leaders, going after the privileged elite for tax evasion and money laundering, and attempting to set reforms in motion to get workers paid and move things along. He has also made missteps, especially with regard to international relations: drawing close to the US, for instance, instead of the European Union, "much easier . . . if only because it was dealing with a single group of interlocutors, and a more consistent message," then drawing away to strike a pose of leadership at the start of the Iraq war. Though he evenhandedly gives credit and assigns demerits to the leader, Jack attributes some of Putin's success to luck--but more to Putin's ability to use his luck effectively and judiciously, proving in the bargain to be "a far more reliable partner than Yeltsin, with a more realistic view of his country's capabilities." That luck is likely to hold, Jack says: Though the signs are clear that reforms will continue without greater democracy, at least the Russian economy is looking up. Now, if only Putin would dispense with designating his successor. A clear-eyed, highly readable look at modern Russia, with all its ongoing enigmas and mysteries. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Review by Library Journal Review
Review by Kirkus Book Review
