All the Kremlin's Men

<b>An extraordinary behind-the-scenes portrait of the court of Vladimir Putin the oligarchs that surround it and the many moods of modern Russia that reads like a real <i>House of Cards</i>(Lev Lurie).</b> <p/><i>All the Kremlin's Men</i> is a gripping narrative of an accidental king and a court out of control. Based on an unprecedented series of interviews with Vladimir Putin's inner circle this book presents a radically different view of power and politics in Russia. The image of Putin as a strongman is dissolved. In its place is a weary figurehead buffeted -- if not controlled -- by the men who at once advise and deceive him. <p/> The regional governors and bureaucratic leaders are immovable objects far more powerful in their fiefdoms than the president himself. So are the gatekeepers-those officials who guard the pathways to power-on whom Putin depends as much as they rely on him. The tenuous edifice is filled with all of the intrigue and plotting of a Medici court as enemies of the state are invented and wars begun to justify personal gains internal rivalries or one faction's biased advantage. <p/> A bestseller in Russia <i>All the Kremlin's Men</i> is a shocking revisionist portrait of the Putin era and a dazzling reconstruction of the machinations of courtiers running riot.