Fragile Empire: How Russia Fell in and Out of Love with Vladimir Putin

Published in 2013, Fragile Empire by Ben Judah is a journalistic portrayal of post-soviet Russia. Judah focuses on President Putin, and frames the book around the perception that he has fallen out of favour and his days in power are numbered.

Looking at this book now, in November of 2014, I can't help but wonder if Judah would write this book differently now. Putin may have gone through a rough political patch, but his popularity in Russia is still very high. As other writers have noted, Putin will continue to enjoy popularity because there is no one with equivalent popularity or power to replace him.

I started Fragile Empire in September and have been reading it chapter by chapter since then. My Contemporary Russian Politics Professor assigned the book as mandatory reading. I found it refreshing and light, compared to the other more academic articles I also read in the course.

While I enjoyed the book, it's already out of date. So much has happened in the past year (Russia, Ukraine, Crimea etc.) which isn't mentioned. If you're going to pick up this book, it's best to do so in collaboration with some more up to date works,