PROGRAM

Join us at Roosevelt House as we welcome former New York Times Moscow Bureau Chief Steven Lee Myers, author of the new book The New Tsar, an epic and incisive portrait of Vladimir Putin, one of the most important and destabilizing world leaders in recent history. In a gripping narrative of Putin’s rise to power as Russia’s president, Steven Lee Myers recounts Putin’s origins from his childhood of abject poverty in Leningrad, to his ascension through the ranks of the KGB, and his eventual consolidation of rule.

As the West struggles to confront an increasingly combative Russia, the importance of understanding its enigmatic and unpredictable leader has never been greater. Upon his election in 2000, Putin’s many reforms from tax cuts to an expansion of property rights have helped reshape the potential of millions of Russians whose only experience of democracy had been crime, poverty, and instability after the fall of the Soviet Union. Yet he also became increasingly authoritarian, consolidating power and stifling dissent. Abroad, he reasserted Russia’s influence, ultimately annexing Crimea and supporting the ongoing conflict in Ukraine-all while maintaining high domestic approval ratings. What does Putin really want? And how should the West interact with him?


Steven Lee Myers – The New Tsar: The Rise and Reign of Vladimir Putin | Posted on September 24th, 2015 | Book Discussions, Public Programs