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 PRIZE How 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 t