Masha Gessen does a marvelous job on her chronicle of Russian politics. The book is courageous, easy to read and well researched - for a book of this length. Gessen covers roughly the last 25 years of Russian politics. She shows how the attempt at democracy has failed, so far, and manages to place most of the blame on Putin. Her descriptions of Putin and his actions over the last 25 years will keep your eyes wide open far into the night. I am not sure that I would call his rise to power unlikely, however. I think it looks pretty well planned. Anyone who wants learn more about Russian politics and how things operate there, but is not a Russian scholar, this is a good book to read. 
 On a personal note: I was in Moscow and St. Petersburg (Leningrad then) in June of 1989. I remember very clearly being surprised at the lack of variety in the food we were served at our hotel. It was mystery meat ball, cucumber and potatoes, every night. They wouldn't sell us Pepsi or anything at all besides mineral water at the hotel. They had to sell us the mineral water because we weren't allowed to drink the water. I turned a wrong corner and found a market that had only cans of tuna on the shelves. No bread, nothing else at all. I was completely oblivious to the fact of the food shortages and rationing that were the reality for everyone else. Is it a tribute to the Soviet government's ability to control information, stunning ignorance on the part of the US government, or what, that made it seem like a good plan to send a large group of privileged American teenagers to the USSR at that time?