Zhirinovsky: An Insider's Account of Yeltsin's Chief Rival & Bespredel-The New Russian Roulette Book

Since the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the Russian people have seen a breakdown not only of communist ideology but of the basic norms of a functioning society. The pervasive, almost palpable atmosphere of despair has led many Russians to seek extreme solutions for their societal malaise. Vladimir Zhirinovsky has exploited this growing desperation, taking the country by storm with his outrageous pronouncements and promises. Seen by Western critics with varying degrees of skepticism, Zhirinovsky is no fleeting curiosity in his motherland. He has even been called by some the "only man who can lead this country out of the darkness and into the light." Indeed, polls have shown that he is considered by many Russians to offer the greatest hope of pulling post-Cold War Russia out of the social and economic slump that has brought the country to its knees. Yet others in his native land and abroad have likened him to Hitler. Disturbingly, he does not shy away from these comparisons.

Publishers Weekly

Russian politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky is widely viewed in the West as an expansionist, ultranationalist, anti-Semitic demagogue and would-be dictator, but in this lame apologia, Kartsev argues that Zhirinovsky's extremist statements are merely a well-orchestrated public-relations ploy to get media attention and to please his constituencies. Kartsev, director of Mir Publishing in Moscow until 1989, was the boss of Zhirinovsky, Mir's in-house lawyer; Bludeau was an editor at Mir under Kartsev. Kartsev denies charges that he recruited Zhirinovsky for the KGB, asserting that both the KGB and the Communist Party considered him untrustworthy. This biographical sketch's primary value lies in its compelling portrait of the anarchy, widespread poverty, organized crime, corruption and disillusionment convulsing Russia today-chaotic conditions that, as Kartsev emphasizes, make possible the rise of Zhirinovsky and other rabble-rousers. Photos not seen by PW. Author tour. (May)