All the Kremlin's Men: Inside the Court of Vladimir Putin Audible Audiobook – Unabridged Mikhail Zygar (Author), Dan Woren (Narrator), Hachette Audio (Publisher) (Hachette Audio )

Great read - refreshingly original

What sets this book aside from all other books on Putin's Russia is 3 things:

1. Approach --> it does not portray Russia as ruled by 1 man, but gives an actual insight in the power structures and factions that rule the Kremlin

2. Author --> The author himself is Russian - he is involved with independent Russian tv station TV Rain (and had to resign after publishing this book because if pressure from the Kremlin). He managed to get very close to many of the men in power at the Kremlin, giving a unique insight from within this very closed group of people & power, instead of reporting from a distance, as is usually the case with books like these.

3. Writing style --> every chapter starts with an anecdote about a powerful figure. These anecdotes are great storytelling, especially the ones on Chechnyan leader Ramzan Kadyrov and head of Rosneft Igor Sechin. Also, the writer clearly tries to maintain a certain neutrality in his writing, whereas most western journalists / writers (Myers, Pomerantsev) clearly write from a certain moral high ground.

It's very refreshing, original, and I definitely recommend the book.

A final big plus: there is a "Who is who" list included in the English version. A very welcome feature, especially for non-native Russian readers like me, for whom complexity of the many Russian names might be a bit overwhelming sometimes.

All the Kremlin's Men 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.

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.

A best seller in Russia, All the Kremlin's Men is a shocking revisionist portrait of the Putin era and a dazzling reconstruction of the machinations of courtiers running riot.