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Putin: His Life and Times
Author: Philip Short
Publisher: Henry Holt
Price: $40
Pages: 864
In the days after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Moscow suddenly felt different. My wife and I were overwhelmed by expressions of sympathy and solidarity. Russians we had never met faxed condolence letters. A teary-eyed stranger stopped me on the street brandishing a picture of herself at the World Trade Centre from a trip years earlier. The outside of the American Embassy was carpeted with flowers, icons, crosses, candles and a note that said, “We were together at the Elbe, we will be together again.”
A young master of
