In his new biography of Vladimir Putin, New York Times correspondent Steven Lee Myers coherently, comprehensively, and evenhandedly tells the story not only of Putin鈥檚 glory years, but also of his hardscrabble childhood in Leningrad, his checkered academic career, his undistinguished work as a KGB agent in East Germany, his remarkably loyal service to the mayor of post-Soviet St. Petersburg, and his reluctant but speedy climb through President Yeltin鈥檚 ministries in the late 1990s. You can read the Monitor's full review of "The New Tsar" here.
