Steve LeVine covers foreign affairs for BusinessWeek. He previously was correspondent for Central Asia and the Caucasus for The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times for 11 years. His first book, The Oil and the Glory, a history of the former Soviet Union through the lens of oil, was published in October 2007. Putin’s Labyrinth, his new book, profiles Russia through the lives and deaths of six Russians. It was released this week.
Thanks to David Hoffman for this entertaining link. For identification purposes: From left to right, Uzbekistan's Islam Karimov, Kazakhstan's Nursultan Nazarbayev, Turkmenistan's Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov and Tajikistan's Imamali Rakhmanov.Labels: berdymukhamedov, Caspian, central asia, elf yourself, karimov, Kazakhstan, Nazarbayev, oil, rakhmanov, Russia
If Steve LeVine's aim … was to chill us to the marrow about post-Communist Russia, he has succeeded.
LeVine's reconstruction of a savagely botched anti-terrorist operation at a Moscow theatre is particularly effective.
With fresh insights into the Chechen wars and Putin’s post-presidency plans, LeVine’s important take on the all-too-real machinations and bloodthirstiness from which espionage thrillers are made is both unnerving and intriguing.
Donna Seaman, Booklist
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