The Russian democratic experiment continues under its third president, Vladimir Putin, now in his second term. An unknown when he was handpicked by his predecessor, Boris Yeltsin, the reserved Putin seemed the exact opposite of the loud, large, and unpredictable Yeltsin. But the former KGB spy also held strong convictions of how the country should be managed and where he wanted to stand on the world stage. Vladimir Putin traces the life of the Russian statesman, from his boyhood in the slums of Leningrad, to his service in the Soviet secret police, to his rise to the presidency. Crisp, full-color photographs and useful study features add to the scope of this newly updated biography.