
Putin's People
How the KGB Took Back Russia and Then Took On the West
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed

Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $24.74
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Dugald Bruce-Lockhart
-
By:
-
Catherine Belton
About this listen
"This riveting, immaculately researched book is arguably the best single volume written about Putin, the people around him and perhaps even about contemporary Russia itself in the past three decades." (Peter Frankopan, Financial Times)
Interference in American elections. The sponsorship of extremist politics in Europe. War in Ukraine. In recent years, Vladimir Putin’s Russia has waged a concerted campaign to expand its influence and undermine Western institutions. But how and why did all this come about, and who has orchestrated it?
In Putin’s People, the investigative journalist and former Moscow correspondent Catherine Belton reveals the untold story of how Vladimir Putin and the small group of KGB men surrounding him rose to power and looted their country. Delving deep into the workings of Putin’s Kremlin, Belton accesses key inside players to reveal how Putin replaced the freewheeling tycoons of the Yeltsin era with a new generation of loyal oligarchs, who in turn subverted Russia’s economy and legal system and extended the Kremlin's reach into the United States and Europe. The result is a chilling and revelatory exposé of the KGB’s revanche - a story that begins in the murk of the Soviet collapse, when networks of operatives were able to siphon billions of dollars out of state enterprises and move their spoils into the West. Putin and his allies subsequently completed the agenda, reasserting Russian power while taking control of the economy for themselves, suppressing independent voices, and launching covert influence operations abroad.
Ranging from Moscow and London to Switzerland and Brooklyn’s Brighton Beach - and assembling a colorful cast of characters to match - Putin’s People is the definitive account of how hopes for the new Russia went astray, with stark consequences for its inhabitants and, increasingly, the world.
Financial Times Books of the Year - 2020
The Telegraph (UK) Best Books of the Year - 2020
A Macmillan Audio production from Farrar, Straus and Giroux
©2020 Catherine Belton (P)2020 Macmillan AudioListeners also enjoyed...
-
The New Tsar
- The Rise and Reign of Vladimir Putin
- By: Steven Lee Myers
- Narrated by: René Ruiz
- Length: 22 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The epic tale of the rise to power of Russia's current president—the only complete biography in English–that fully captures his emergence from shrouded obscurity and deprivation to become one of the most consequential and complicated leaders in modern history, by the former New York Times Moscow bureau chief.
-
-
A retelling of facts without much added info
- By A. M. on 03-07-16
By: Steven Lee Myers
-
Elon Musk
- By: Walter Isaacson
- Narrated by: Jeremy Bobb, Walter Isaacson
- Length: 20 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Elon Musk was a kid in South Africa, he was regularly beaten by bullies. One day a group pushed him down some concrete steps and kicked him until his face was a swollen ball of flesh. He was in the hospital for a week. But the physical scars were minor compared to the emotional ones inflicted by his father, an engineer, rogue, and charismatic fantasist.
-
-
megalomania on display
- By JP on 09-12-23
By: Walter Isaacson
-
The Man Without a Face
- The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin
- By: Masha Gessen
- Narrated by: Masha Gessen
- Length: 10 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Man Without a Face is the chilling account of how a low-level, small-minded KGB operative ascended to the Russian presidency and, in an astonishingly short time, destroyed years of progress and made his country once more a threat to its own people and to the world.
-
-
A Preview of Authoritarianism in the USA
- By Jimmy O on 06-08-19
By: Masha Gessen
-
Freezing Order
- A True Story of Russian Money Laundering, State-Sponsored Murder, and Surviving Vladimir Putin's Wrath
- By: Bill Browder
- Narrated by: Adam Grupper
- Length: 10 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Browder’s young Russian lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, was beaten to death in a Moscow jail in 2009, Browder cast aside his business career and made it his life’s mission to pursue justice for Sergei. One of the first steps of that mission was to uncover who had killed Sergei and profited from the $230 million corruption scheme that he had exposed. As Browder and his team tracked the money that flowed out of Russia—through the Baltics and Cyprus and on to Western Europe and the Americas—they discovered that Vladimir Putin himself was one of the beneficiaries of the crime.
-
-
Red Notice Part II —- The Empire Struck Out
- By R. Alembik on 04-16-22
By: Bill Browder
-
Overreach
- The Inside Story of Putin’s War Against Ukraine
- By: Owen Matthews
- Narrated by: Saul Reichlin
- Length: 15 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Russo-Ukrainian War is the most serious geopolitical crisis since the Second World War—and yet at the heart of the conflict is a mystery. Vladimir Putin lurched from a calculating, subtle master of opportunity to a reckless gambler, putting his regime—and Russia itself—at risk of destruction. Why? Drawing on over 25 years’ experience working in Moscow, journalist Owen Matthews provides the answer. He takes us inside the COVID bubble where Putin conceived his invasion plans in a fog of nationalist fantasy and bad information.
-
-
Comprehensive Account of the War Through September 2022
- By Jason777 on 12-30-22
By: Owen Matthews
-
Going Infinite
- The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon
- By: Michael Lewis
- Narrated by: Michael Lewis
- Length: 9 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Michael Lewis first met him, Sam Bankman-Fried was the world’s youngest billionaire and crypto’s Gatsby. CEOs, celebrities, and leaders of small countries all vied for his time and cash after he catapulted, practically overnight, onto the Forbes billionaire list. Who was this rumpled guy in cargo shorts and limp white socks, whose eyes twitched across Zoom meetings as he played video games on the side?
-
-
really expected more rigor from Michael Lewis
- By Wowhello on 10-04-23
By: Michael Lewis
-
The New Tsar
- The Rise and Reign of Vladimir Putin
- By: Steven Lee Myers
- Narrated by: René Ruiz
- Length: 22 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The epic tale of the rise to power of Russia's current president—the only complete biography in English–that fully captures his emergence from shrouded obscurity and deprivation to become one of the most consequential and complicated leaders in modern history, by the former New York Times Moscow bureau chief.
-
-
A retelling of facts without much added info
- By A. M. on 03-07-16
By: Steven Lee Myers
-
Elon Musk
- By: Walter Isaacson
- Narrated by: Jeremy Bobb, Walter Isaacson
- Length: 20 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Elon Musk was a kid in South Africa, he was regularly beaten by bullies. One day a group pushed him down some concrete steps and kicked him until his face was a swollen ball of flesh. He was in the hospital for a week. But the physical scars were minor compared to the emotional ones inflicted by his father, an engineer, rogue, and charismatic fantasist.
-
-
megalomania on display
- By JP on 09-12-23
By: Walter Isaacson
-
The Man Without a Face
- The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin
- By: Masha Gessen
- Narrated by: Masha Gessen
- Length: 10 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Man Without a Face is the chilling account of how a low-level, small-minded KGB operative ascended to the Russian presidency and, in an astonishingly short time, destroyed years of progress and made his country once more a threat to its own people and to the world.
-
-
A Preview of Authoritarianism in the USA
- By Jimmy O on 06-08-19
By: Masha Gessen
-
Freezing Order
- A True Story of Russian Money Laundering, State-Sponsored Murder, and Surviving Vladimir Putin's Wrath
- By: Bill Browder
- Narrated by: Adam Grupper
- Length: 10 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Browder’s young Russian lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, was beaten to death in a Moscow jail in 2009, Browder cast aside his business career and made it his life’s mission to pursue justice for Sergei. One of the first steps of that mission was to uncover who had killed Sergei and profited from the $230 million corruption scheme that he had exposed. As Browder and his team tracked the money that flowed out of Russia—through the Baltics and Cyprus and on to Western Europe and the Americas—they discovered that Vladimir Putin himself was one of the beneficiaries of the crime.
-
-
Red Notice Part II —- The Empire Struck Out
- By R. Alembik on 04-16-22
By: Bill Browder
-
Overreach
- The Inside Story of Putin’s War Against Ukraine
- By: Owen Matthews
- Narrated by: Saul Reichlin
- Length: 15 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Russo-Ukrainian War is the most serious geopolitical crisis since the Second World War—and yet at the heart of the conflict is a mystery. Vladimir Putin lurched from a calculating, subtle master of opportunity to a reckless gambler, putting his regime—and Russia itself—at risk of destruction. Why? Drawing on over 25 years’ experience working in Moscow, journalist Owen Matthews provides the answer. He takes us inside the COVID bubble where Putin conceived his invasion plans in a fog of nationalist fantasy and bad information.
-
-
Comprehensive Account of the War Through September 2022
- By Jason777 on 12-30-22
By: Owen Matthews
-
Going Infinite
- The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon
- By: Michael Lewis
- Narrated by: Michael Lewis
- Length: 9 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Michael Lewis first met him, Sam Bankman-Fried was the world’s youngest billionaire and crypto’s Gatsby. CEOs, celebrities, and leaders of small countries all vied for his time and cash after he catapulted, practically overnight, onto the Forbes billionaire list. Who was this rumpled guy in cargo shorts and limp white socks, whose eyes twitched across Zoom meetings as he played video games on the side?
-
-
really expected more rigor from Michael Lewis
- By Wowhello on 10-04-23
By: Michael Lewis
-
Putin's Wars
- From Chechnya to Ukraine
- By: Mark Galeotti
- Narrated by: David Sibley
- Length: 15 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Putin's Wars is a timely overview of the conflicts in which Russia has been involved since Vladimir Putin became prime minister and then president of Russia, from the First Chechen War to the two military incursions into Georgia, the annexation of Crimea and the eventual invasion of Ukraine itself. But it also looks more broadly at Putin's recreation of Russian military power and its expansion to include a range of new capabilities, from mercenaries to operatives in a relentless information war against Western powers.
-
-
Botched Attempt on Russian Stress
- By Alexey B. on 12-20-22
By: Mark Galeotti
-
Putin's Kleptocracy
- Who Owns Russia?
- By: Karen Dawisha
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 14 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The raging question in the world today is who is the real Vladimir Putin and what are his intentions. Karen Dawisha’s brilliant Putin’s Kleptocracy provides an answer, describing how Putin got to power, the cabal he brought with him, the billions they have looted, and his plan to restore the Greater Russia.
-
-
Who owns Russia
- By Amazon Customer on 11-09-14
By: Karen Dawisha
-
Chip War
- The Quest to Dominate the World's Most Critical Technology
- By: Chris Miller
- Narrated by: Stephen Graybill
- Length: 12 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
You may be surprised to learn that microchips are the new oil—the scarce resource on which the modern world depends. Today, military, economic, and geopolitical power are built on a foundation of computer chips. Virtually everything—from missiles to microwaves—runs on chips, including cars, smartphones, the stock market, even the electric grid. Until recently, America designed and built the fastest chips and maintained its lead as the #1 superpower, but America’s edge is in danger of slipping, undermined by players in Taiwan, Korea, and Europe taking over manufacturing.
-
-
Great history, but could poor narration
- By Lily Wong on 10-26-22
By: Chris Miller
-
Putin
- By: Philip Short
- Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble
- Length: 29 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Vladimir Putin is the world’s most dangerous man. Alone among world leaders, he has the power to reduce the United States and Europe to ashes in a nuclear firestorm and has threatened to do so. He invades his neighbors, most recently Ukraine, meddles in western elections, and orders assassinations inside and outside Russia. His regime is autocratic and deeply corrupt. But that is only half the story. Unflinching, hard-hitting, and objective, Philip Short’s biography gives us the whole tale, up to the present day.
-
-
Well done with one flaw
- By M & B on 08-11-24
By: Philip Short
-
The Sword and the Shield
- By: Christopher Andrew, Vasilli Mitrokhin
- Narrated by: Robert Whitfield
- Length: 31 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This book reveals the most complete picture ever of the KGB and its operations in the United States and Europe. It is based on an extremely top secret archive which details the full extent of its worldwide network. Christopher Andrew is professor of modern and contemporary history and chair of the history department at Cambridge University, a former visiting professor of national security at Harvard, a frequent guest lecturer at other United States universities, and a regular host of BBC radio and TV programs.
-
-
Great book on the history of the KGB
- By Clydene on 05-28-12
By: Christopher Andrew, and others
-
Putin's Playbook
- Russia's Secret Plan to Defeat America
- By: Rebekah Koffler
- Narrated by: Joyce Sternton
- Length: 13 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Politicians and pundits on both sides of the aisle have accused Russia of interfering with our elections and our intelligence agencies. But the war Russia is waging against America is very different from anything you have heard in the press, as Russian-born US intelligence expert Rebekah Koffler reveals. In Putin’s Playbook, Koffler details how Vladimir Putin is orchestrating a wide-ranging, multifaceted campaign to retake his country’s role as a superpower and to defeat America in the process.
-
-
Pure Right Wing Propaganda. Right out of Putins Playbook
- By Michael Christensen on 02-04-22
By: Rebekah Koffler
-
From Russia with Blood
- The Kremlin's Ruthless Assassination Program and Vladimir Putin's Secret War on the West
- By: Heidi Blake
- Narrated by: Marisa Calin
- Length: 10 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The untold story of how Russia refined the art and science of targeted assassination abroad—while Western spies watched in horror as their governments failed to guard against the threat. Unflinchingly documenting the growing web of death on British and American soil, Heidi Blake bravely exposes the Kremlin's assassination campaign as part of Putin's ruthless pursuit of global dominance—and reveals why Western governments have failed to stop the bloodshed.
-
-
Putin & Polonium; Oligarchs & FSB Assassins; Oh My
- By Michael J Canning on 01-09-20
By: Heidi Blake
-
Blowout
- Corrupted Democracy, Rogue State Russia, and the Richest, Most Destructive Industry on Earth
- By: Rachel Maddow
- Narrated by: Rachel Maddow
- Length: 15 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 2010, the words “earthquake swarm” entered the lexicon in Oklahoma. That same year, a trove of Michael Jackson memorabilia—including his iconic crystal-encrusted white glove—was sold at auction for over $1 million to a guy who was, officially, just the lowly forestry minister of the tiny nation of Equatorial Guinea. And in 2014, Ukrainian revolutionaries raided the palace of their ousted president and found a zoo of peacocks, gilded toilets, and a floating restaurant modeled after a Spanish galleon.
-
-
chilling...
- By Kindle Customer on 10-12-19
By: Rachel Maddow
-
Winter Is Coming
- Why Vladimir Putin and the Enemies of the Free World Must Be Stopped
- By: Garry Kasparov
- Narrated by: George Backman
- Length: 11 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The ascension of Vladimir Putin - a former lieutenant colonel of the KGB - to the presidency of Russia in 1999 should have been a signal that the country was headed away from democracy. Yet in the intervening years - as America and the world's other leading powers have continued to appease him - Putin has grown into not only a dictator but a global threat. With his vast resources and nuclear weapons, Putin is at the center of a worldwide assault on political liberty.
-
-
A polemic against Putin
- By David on 05-27-16
By: Garry Kasparov
-
Follow the Money: The Shocking Deep State Connections of the Anti-Trump Cabal
- By: Dan Bongino
- Narrated by: Dan Bongino
- Length: 5 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Follow the Money exposes the labyrinth of connections between D.C.’s slimiest swamp creatures - Democrat operatives, lying informants, desperate, and destructive FBI agents, Obama power brokers, CIA renegade John Brennan, George Soros, and more - who conspired to attack Trump by manufacturing one bogus scandal after another. Best-selling author, podcast favorite, and Fox News contributor Dan Bongino delivers the third and most shocking of his acclaimed series chronicling the deep state war against Donald Trump.
-
-
Must read!
- By Joey Dionne on 08-29-20
By: Dan Bongino
-
Blood and Oil
- Mohammed bin Salman's Ruthless Quest for Global Power
- By: Bradley Hope, Justin Scheck
- Narrated by: Peter Ganim
- Length: 12 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From award-winning Wall Street Journal reporters comes a revelatory look at the inner workings of the world's most powerful royal family, and how the struggle for succession produced Saudi Arabia's charismatic but ruthless Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, aka MBS.
-
-
Nothing New Here
- By Susie Takach Seligman on 09-10-20
By: Bradley Hope, and others
-
Moneyland
- The Inside Story of the Crooks and Kleptocrats Who Rule the World
- By: Oliver Bullough
- Narrated by: Oliver Bullough
- Length: 9 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An investigative journalist's deep dive into the corrupt workings of the world's kleptocrats. Learn how the institutions of Europe and the US have become money-laundering operations, attacking the foundations of many of the world's most stable countries. Meet the kleptocrats. Meet their awful children. And find out how heroic activists around the world are fighting back.
-
-
Best book I've read (listened to) this year
- By Linda Copeland on 06-26-19
By: Oliver Bullough
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
Putin
- By: Philip Short
- Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble
- Length: 29 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Vladimir Putin is the world’s most dangerous man. Alone among world leaders, he has the power to reduce the United States and Europe to ashes in a nuclear firestorm and has threatened to do so. He invades his neighbors, most recently Ukraine, meddles in western elections, and orders assassinations inside and outside Russia. His regime is autocratic and deeply corrupt. But that is only half the story. Unflinching, hard-hitting, and objective, Philip Short’s biography gives us the whole tale, up to the present day.
-
-
Well done with one flaw
- By M & B on 08-11-24
By: Philip Short
-
Putin's Playbook
- Russia's Secret Plan to Defeat America
- By: Rebekah Koffler
- Narrated by: Joyce Sternton
- Length: 13 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Politicians and pundits on both sides of the aisle have accused Russia of interfering with our elections and our intelligence agencies. But the war Russia is waging against America is very different from anything you have heard in the press, as Russian-born US intelligence expert Rebekah Koffler reveals. In Putin’s Playbook, Koffler details how Vladimir Putin is orchestrating a wide-ranging, multifaceted campaign to retake his country’s role as a superpower and to defeat America in the process.
-
-
Pure Right Wing Propaganda. Right out of Putins Playbook
- By Michael Christensen on 02-04-22
By: Rebekah Koffler
-
The New Tsar
- The Rise and Reign of Vladimir Putin
- By: Steven Lee Myers
- Narrated by: René Ruiz
- Length: 22 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The epic tale of the rise to power of Russia's current president—the only complete biography in English–that fully captures his emergence from shrouded obscurity and deprivation to become one of the most consequential and complicated leaders in modern history, by the former New York Times Moscow bureau chief.
-
-
A retelling of facts without much added info
- By A. M. on 03-07-16
By: Steven Lee Myers
-
The Man Without a Face
- The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin
- By: Masha Gessen
- Narrated by: Masha Gessen
- Length: 10 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Man Without a Face is the chilling account of how a low-level, small-minded KGB operative ascended to the Russian presidency and, in an astonishingly short time, destroyed years of progress and made his country once more a threat to its own people and to the world.
-
-
A Preview of Authoritarianism in the USA
- By Jimmy O on 06-08-19
By: Masha Gessen
-
Putin's World
- Russia Against the West and with the Rest
- By: Angela Stent
- Narrated by: Kevin Stillwell
- Length: 15 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Putin's World examines the country's turbulent past, how it has influenced Putin, the Russians' understanding of their position on the global stage and their future ambitions—and their conviction that the West has tried to deny them a seat at the table of great powers since the USSR collapsed.
-
-
More like The West against the world
- By Felis N on 01-18-20
By: Angela Stent
-
The Future of Geography
- How the Competition in Space Will Change Our World (Politics of Place)
- By: Tim Marshall
- Narrated by: Tim Marshall
- Length: 6 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Humans are venturing up and out, and we’re taking our competitive spirit with us. Soon, what happens in space will shape human history as much the mountains, rivers, and seas have impacted civilizations around the world. It’s no coincidence that Russia, China, and the USA are leading the way. The next fifty years will change the face of global politics and the world order as we know it. In this must-listen work, bestselling author Tim Marshall navigates the new astropolitical reality to show how we got here and where we’re heading.
-
-
Good Overview of Astro Politics
- By Gary on 04-18-24
By: Tim Marshall
-
Putin
- By: Philip Short
- Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble
- Length: 29 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Vladimir Putin is the world’s most dangerous man. Alone among world leaders, he has the power to reduce the United States and Europe to ashes in a nuclear firestorm and has threatened to do so. He invades his neighbors, most recently Ukraine, meddles in western elections, and orders assassinations inside and outside Russia. His regime is autocratic and deeply corrupt. But that is only half the story. Unflinching, hard-hitting, and objective, Philip Short’s biography gives us the whole tale, up to the present day.
-
-
Well done with one flaw
- By M & B on 08-11-24
By: Philip Short
-
Putin's Playbook
- Russia's Secret Plan to Defeat America
- By: Rebekah Koffler
- Narrated by: Joyce Sternton
- Length: 13 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Politicians and pundits on both sides of the aisle have accused Russia of interfering with our elections and our intelligence agencies. But the war Russia is waging against America is very different from anything you have heard in the press, as Russian-born US intelligence expert Rebekah Koffler reveals. In Putin’s Playbook, Koffler details how Vladimir Putin is orchestrating a wide-ranging, multifaceted campaign to retake his country’s role as a superpower and to defeat America in the process.
-
-
Pure Right Wing Propaganda. Right out of Putins Playbook
- By Michael Christensen on 02-04-22
By: Rebekah Koffler
-
The New Tsar
- The Rise and Reign of Vladimir Putin
- By: Steven Lee Myers
- Narrated by: René Ruiz
- Length: 22 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The epic tale of the rise to power of Russia's current president—the only complete biography in English–that fully captures his emergence from shrouded obscurity and deprivation to become one of the most consequential and complicated leaders in modern history, by the former New York Times Moscow bureau chief.
-
-
A retelling of facts without much added info
- By A. M. on 03-07-16
By: Steven Lee Myers
-
The Man Without a Face
- The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin
- By: Masha Gessen
- Narrated by: Masha Gessen
- Length: 10 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Man Without a Face is the chilling account of how a low-level, small-minded KGB operative ascended to the Russian presidency and, in an astonishingly short time, destroyed years of progress and made his country once more a threat to its own people and to the world.
-
-
A Preview of Authoritarianism in the USA
- By Jimmy O on 06-08-19
By: Masha Gessen
-
Putin's World
- Russia Against the West and with the Rest
- By: Angela Stent
- Narrated by: Kevin Stillwell
- Length: 15 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Putin's World examines the country's turbulent past, how it has influenced Putin, the Russians' understanding of their position on the global stage and their future ambitions—and their conviction that the West has tried to deny them a seat at the table of great powers since the USSR collapsed.
-
-
More like The West against the world
- By Felis N on 01-18-20
By: Angela Stent
-
The Future of Geography
- How the Competition in Space Will Change Our World (Politics of Place)
- By: Tim Marshall
- Narrated by: Tim Marshall
- Length: 6 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Humans are venturing up and out, and we’re taking our competitive spirit with us. Soon, what happens in space will shape human history as much the mountains, rivers, and seas have impacted civilizations around the world. It’s no coincidence that Russia, China, and the USA are leading the way. The next fifty years will change the face of global politics and the world order as we know it. In this must-listen work, bestselling author Tim Marshall navigates the new astropolitical reality to show how we got here and where we’re heading.
-
-
Good Overview of Astro Politics
- By Gary on 04-18-24
By: Tim Marshall
-
How to Lose a Country: The 7 Steps from Democracy to Fascism
- Canons
- By: Ece Temelkuran
- Narrated by: Ece Temelkuran
- Length: 8 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
How to Lose a Country is a warning to the world that populism and nationalism don't march fully-formed into government; they creep. Weaving memoir, history and clear-sighted argument, Temelkuran proposes alternative answers to the pressing - and too often paralysing - political questions of our time. How to Lose A Country is an exploration of the insidious ideas at the core of these movements and an urgent, eloquent defence of democracy.
By: Ece Temelkuran
-
Putin's Wars
- From Chechnya to Ukraine
- By: Mark Galeotti
- Narrated by: David Sibley
- Length: 15 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Putin's Wars is a timely overview of the conflicts in which Russia has been involved since Vladimir Putin became prime minister and then president of Russia, from the First Chechen War to the two military incursions into Georgia, the annexation of Crimea and the eventual invasion of Ukraine itself. But it also looks more broadly at Putin's recreation of Russian military power and its expansion to include a range of new capabilities, from mercenaries to operatives in a relentless information war against Western powers.
-
-
Botched Attempt on Russian Stress
- By Alexey B. on 12-20-22
By: Mark Galeotti
-
Overreach
- The Inside Story of Putin’s War Against Ukraine
- By: Owen Matthews
- Narrated by: Saul Reichlin
- Length: 15 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Russo-Ukrainian War is the most serious geopolitical crisis since the Second World War—and yet at the heart of the conflict is a mystery. Vladimir Putin lurched from a calculating, subtle master of opportunity to a reckless gambler, putting his regime—and Russia itself—at risk of destruction. Why? Drawing on over 25 years’ experience working in Moscow, journalist Owen Matthews provides the answer. He takes us inside the COVID bubble where Putin conceived his invasion plans in a fog of nationalist fantasy and bad information.
-
-
Comprehensive Account of the War Through September 2022
- By Jason777 on 12-30-22
By: Owen Matthews
-
Mr. Putin
- Operative in the Kremlin
- By: Fiona Hill, Clifford G. Gaddy
- Narrated by: Ellen Archer
- Length: 17 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Not a good narration.
- By IBH on 07-22-20
By: Fiona Hill, and others
-
Blowout
- Corrupted Democracy, Rogue State Russia, and the Richest, Most Destructive Industry on Earth
- By: Rachel Maddow
- Narrated by: Rachel Maddow
- Length: 15 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 2010, the words “earthquake swarm” entered the lexicon in Oklahoma. That same year, a trove of Michael Jackson memorabilia—including his iconic crystal-encrusted white glove—was sold at auction for over $1 million to a guy who was, officially, just the lowly forestry minister of the tiny nation of Equatorial Guinea. And in 2014, Ukrainian revolutionaries raided the palace of their ousted president and found a zoo of peacocks, gilded toilets, and a floating restaurant modeled after a Spanish galleon.
-
-
chilling...
- By Kindle Customer on 10-12-19
By: Rachel Maddow
-
The Five
- The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper
- By: Hallie Rubenhold
- Narrated by: Louise Brealey
- Length: 10 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Polly, Annie, Elizabeth, Catherine, and Mary-Jane are famous for the same thing, though they never met. What they had in common was the year of their murders: 1888. The person responsible was never identified, but the character created by the press to fill that gap has become far more famous than any of these five women. For more than a century, newspapers have been keen to tell us that "the Ripper" preyed on prostitutes. Not only is this untrue, as historian Hallie Rubenhold has discovered, but it has prevented the real stories of these fascinating women from being told.
-
-
Everyone needs to read/listen to this book
- By AAHickman on 12-05-19
By: Hallie Rubenhold
-
Lenin's Tomb
- The Last Days of the Soviet Empire
- By: David Remnick
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 29 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the tradition of John Reed's classic Ten Days That Shook the World, this best-selling account of the collapse of the Soviet Union combines the global vision of the best historical scholarship with the immediacy of eyewitness journalism.
-
-
The moral complexity of a comic book
- By Tot on 02-22-19
By: David Remnick
-
House of Trump, House of Putin
- The Untold Story of Donald Trump and the Russian Mafia
- By: Craig Unger
- Narrated by: Jason Culp
- Length: 11 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is a chilling story that begins in the 1970s, when Trump made his first splash in the booming, money-drenched world of New York real estate, and ends with Trump’s inauguration as president of the US. That moment was the culmination of Vladimir Putin’s long mission to undermine Western democracy, a mission that he and his hand-selected group of oligarchs and Mafia kingpins had ensnared Trump in, starting more than 20 years ago with the massive bailout of a string of Trump hotel and casino failures. This book confirms the most incredible American paranoias about Russian malevolence.
-
-
Understanding Trump through his shady roots
- By Caty kindle 4 on 08-20-18
By: Craig Unger
-
The Invention of Russia
- From Gorbachev's Freedom to Putin's War
- By: Arkady Ostrovsky
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 12 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The end of Communism and breakup of the Soviet Union was a time of euphoria around the world, but Russia today is violently anti-American and dangerously nationalistic. So how did we go from the promise of those days to the autocratic police state of Putin's new Russia? The Invention of Russia reaches back to the darkest days of the Cold War to tell the story of the fight for the soul of a nation.
-
-
Sad Story of Russia's Abandonment of Liberalism
- By Amazon Customer on 10-03-16
By: Arkady Ostrovsky
-
American Psychosis
- A Historical Investigation of How the Republican Party Went Crazy
- By: David Corn
- Narrated by: Steven Jay Cohen
- Length: 17 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A fast-paced, rollicking, behind-the-scenes account of how the GOP since the 1950s has encouraged and exploited extremism, bigotry, and paranoia to gain power, American Psychosis offers listeners a brisk, can-you-believe-it journey through the netherworld of far-right irrationality and the Republican Party’s interactions with the darkest forces in America.
-
-
Important history poorly read
- By A. Hawley on 09-16-22
By: David Corn
-
Unredacted
- Russia, Trump, and the Fight for Democracy
- By: Christopher Steele
- Narrated by: Christopher Steele
- Length: 8 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
To a unique degree, Christopher Steele has been an eyewitness observer of modern Russian history. He was a British diplomat and intelligence professional in Moscow when the Soviet Union was collapsing. Steele was there when the putsch against Mikhail Gorbachev took place and when Boris Yeltsin took over the newly independent Russia. After Vladimir Putin came to power, Steele rose to become one of British government’s leading Russia experts and played a central role in the investigation into the Kremlin-ordered murder of Alexander Litvinenko.
-
-
Mostly a biography of Steele
- By Iread on 03-24-25
-
The Russo-Ukrainian War
- The Return of History
- By: Serhii Plokhy
- Narrated by: Victor Bevine
- Length: 11 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Despite repeated warnings from the White House, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 shocked the world. Why did Putin start the war—and why has it unfolded in previously unimaginable ways? Ukrainians have resisted a superior military; the West has united, while Russia grows increasingly isolated. Serhii Plokhy, a leading historian of Ukraine and the Cold War, offers a definitive account of this conflict, its origins, course, and the already apparent and possible future consequences.
-
-
Plokhy delivers as always!
- By Kristinka on 05-20-23
By: Serhii Plokhy
Connects dots.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Well researched, well written, startling story
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Critical given recent events.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Very good
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Must read to understand current Ukraine crisis
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
other than luberal bias toward trump, this book is near perfect. mafia rules over russia
very good
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This is great insight into Putin, but also into understanding the very convincing positioning of perception that Russia (and, of course, all powerful nations) have engaged in when it comes into portraying themselves to their own people.
Brilliant, clear, highly informative
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
solid overview of why russia is the way it is.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Important to understand thecurrent geopolitical situation vis-a-vis Russia.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
why he is doing what he is doing, and why he can't put on the breaks
understand putin
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.