The definitive and award-winning history of Vladimir Putin's rise to power following the collapse of the Soviet Union, by The Economist's Russia editor.'Fast-paced and excellently written' New York Times'A real insiders' story of Russia's post-Soviet "counter-revolution" - an important and timely book.' Anne ApplebaumWINNER OF THE ORWELL PRIZEHow did a country that embraced freedom over twenty-five years ago end up as an autocratic police state bent once again on confrontation with the West? In this Orwell Prize-winning book, Arkady Ostrovsky reaches back to the darkest days of the Cold War to tell the story of Russia's stealthy and largely unchronicled post-Soviet transformation.Ostrovsky's knowledge of many of the key players allows him to explain the rise of Vladimir Putin and to reveal how he pioneered a new form of demagogic populism. In a new preface he examines Putin's influence on the US election and explores how his methods - weaponizing the media and serving up fake news - came to enter Western politics.

Arkady Ostrovsky is a Russian-born, British journalist who has spent fifteen years reporting from Moscow, first for theFinancial Times and then as a bureau chief forThe Economist. He studied Russian theatre history in Moscow and holds a PhD in English Literature from Cambridge University. His translation of Tom Stoppard's trilogy,The Coast of Utopia, has been published and staged in Russia.