First Person: an Astonishing Self-Portrait of Russia’s President Vladimir Putin

500 Words2 Pages
This book is, like the title suggests, is a self-portrait of Vladimir Putin. According to Merriam-Webster, a self-portrait is “a portrait of oneself done by oneself.” This book is a collection of unedited raw interviews and monologues that the writers of this book did by interviewing the Russian President and the people that know him know and that have shaped his life. This book is called a self-portrait because Putin isn’t writing about himself; it’s not an autobiography, but it does help answer questions a self-portrait answer. The question being, Who are you? What are the characteristics that make up your personality? Where you came from, what kind of person you are and what kind of person you want to be? What you do in life, what your dreams are, and what your accomplishments and failures have been. How does it make you feel and how they all fit into the larger picture of your life? This book was publish in 2000, months after President Boris Yeltsin had appointed him Putin as Prime Minister and acting President after he surprisingly resigned. When all of this occurred Putin was surprise at his rise in power but he didn’t complain, he took the challenges presented to him and made the best of it. This self-portrait has shaped the decisions Putin has made since he has been in power and to this day. Putin was the son of a factory worker, his mom, and of a Soviet Soldier that was in the Navy. His childhood was stricken with poverty and when he went through a lot of hardships growing up. All changed when the time came to go to a University, against basically everyone’s wishes because Putin decided to go to law school to chase his dream of being a spy in the KGB, which is equivalent to the CIA. This decision speaks a great deal about his demeanor than because he went against what everyone in his life told he should have done to pursue his dream and he fulfilled
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