Mr. Putin

Operative in the Kremlin

By: Fiona Hill, Clifford G. Gaddy

Narrated by: Ellen Archer

From the KGB to the Kremlin: a multidimensional portrait of the man at war with the West. Where do Vladimir Putin's ideas come from? How does he look at the outside world? What does he want, and how far is he willing to go?

The great lesson of the outbreak of World War I in 1914 was the danger of misreading the statements, actions, and intentions of the adversary. Today, Vladimir Putin has become the greatest challenge to European security and the global world order in decades. Russia's 8,000 nuclear weapons underscore the huge risks of not understanding who Putin is. Featuring five new chapters, this new edition dispels potentially dangerous misconceptions about Putin and offers a clear-eyed look at his objectives. It presents Putin as a reflection of deeply ingrained Russian ways of thinking as well as his unique personal background and experience.

©2015 Fiona Hill and Clifford G. Gaddy (P)2020 Random House Audio

a great educational manual

everyone politically minded should have this on their bed side table. great incite into russian thinking. this lady really knows her stuff

Timely. 2015 assessment accurate to 2022 events.

The book creates a framework of identities in which to understand Vladimir Putin. They are the lens through which he understands his interactions with the West and how he sees his mission. As a long time reader and listener of all things Russian, this may be the best book I have ever encountered to explain affairs over the last 20 years.

the best book on Putin

Anyone interested in understanding how Putin thinks plans and act, how he plays and fight must read this book. Putin is a dangerous street tug but he now sits as the head of Russia with large nuke arsenal,. USSR had at least a polit buro a group of communists to make key decisions now there is only one man Putin and he can and will resort to nukes. The real evil empire is Russia under Putin. Excellent book highly recommend it.

highly insightful and revealing

If you find yourself wondering what could Putin possibly be thinking as he started this current war in Ukraine, this book is an excellent insight to his formative experiences and views of world politics. This book also provides timely and detailed history between Ukraine and Russia, and places much context on this current war, especially because it was written before this current war.

Interesting book, amateurish performance

The performer does not bother with pronunciation of non-english names. I would not mind if that was the norm here, but it is not, so this performance stands up from the crowd in a negative way.

Extremely important background for current crises and decisions

Enormously important and memorable central themes (Putin’s six identities, and his background as a street fighter who would never never back down, are among those. Unfortunately there was a surprising g amount of repetition in the Audible version - to the point that I wondered if the recording was defective.

Excellent

Excellent description and analysis of Vladimir's world, how he got there as well what means for rest of us.

Good insights into an evil man.

I missed having Fiona Hill’s voice as narrator. Enjoyed her more recent book Nothing Here for You.

Well paced narration

Well paced narration of this illuminating exposition about Russia’s leader Vladimir Putin. Written clearly but I didn’t think I’d complete it because it was like reading a long report and I found myself dozing off.

in-depth, balanced, vital

The US and Russia have such different world views that empathy and understanding are difficult. Each of us who reads or listens to this book becomes part of the solution. The audiobook is read by the author herself.