This is a select bibliography of academic level books and journal articles about the history of Vladimir Putin and the historical context of their life.

Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as president of Russia since 2012, having previously held the office from 2000 to 2008. He also served as prime minister from 1999 to 2000 and again from 2008 to 2012. Putin has been described as the de facto leader of Russia since 1999.

Bibliography contains academic level English language books (including translations) and journal articles, published mainly post World War II. Book entries may have references to reviews published in academic journals or major newspapers when these could be considered helpful. These reference reviews also function as a resource to find other works on this subject.

Works listed here are cited in the notes or bibliographies of scholarly sources. Each meets at least one of these tests: publication by an academic or major trade press, authorship by a recognized expert, or substantial review in scholarly journals; borderline cases are omitted. A selection of primary sources are included. Many of the books below carry their own bibliographies; see Further reading section for longer ones, and External links section for historical sites and museums.

Citations follow APA style. Book have citations to academic journal or mainstream published reviews when available. For books only partly about the subject, give relevant chapter or section titles where useful and available. Translators of the original-language edition are included when possible. In cases where a title or name has appeared with more than one English spelling, use the most recent published form is used and a footnote documents any earlier title under which the work appeared.

Biography

Galeotti, M. (2019). We need to talk about Putin: How the West gets him wrong. Ebury Press. Gessen, M. (2012). The man without a face: The unlikely rise of Vladimir Putin. Riverhead Books. Hill, F., & Gaddy, C. G. (2015). Mr. Putin: Operative in the Kremlin (New and expanded ed.). Brookings Institution Press. Judah, B. (2013). Fragile empire: How Russia fell in and out of love with Vladimir Putin. Yale University Press. Lynch, A. C. (2011). Vladimir Putin and Russian statecraft. Potomac Books. Myers, S. L. (2015). The new tsar: The rise and reign of Vladimir Putin. Alfred A. Knopf. Roxburgh, A. (2012). The strongman: Vladimir Putin and the struggle for Russia. I.B. Tauris. Sakwa, R. (2004). Putin: Russia's choice. Routledge. Sakwa, R. (2014). Putin redux: Power and contradiction in contemporary Russia. Routledge. Sakwa, R. (2020). The Putin paradox. I.B. Tauris. Short, P. (2022). Putin: His life and times. Bodley Head. Treisman, D. (2011). The return: Russia's journey from Gorbachev to Medvedev. Free Press. Van Herpen, M. H. (2013). Putinism: The slow rise of a radical right regime in Russia. Palgrave Macmillan. Zygar, M. (2016). All the Kremlin's men: Inside the court of Vladimir Putin. PublicAffairs.

Background and rise to power

Baker, P., & Glasser, S. (2005). Kremlin rising: Vladimir Putin's Russia and the end of revolution. Scribner. Belton, C. (2020). Putin's people: How the KGB took back Russia and then took on the West. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Colton, T. J., & McFaul, M. (2003). Popular choice and managed democracy: The Russian elections of 1999 and 2000. Brookings Institution Press. Dawisha, K. (2014). Putin's kleptocracy: Who owns Russia?. Simon & Schuster. Knight, A. (2000). The enduring legacy of the KGB in Russian politics. Problems of Post-Communism, 47(4), 3–15. Sakwa, R. (2008). Putin's leadership: Character and consequences. Europe-Asia Studies, 60(6), 879–897. Shevtsova, L. (2003). Putin's Russia. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Domestic politics

Colton, T. J., & Hale, H. E. (2009). The Putin vote: Presidential electorates in a hybrid regime. Slavic Review, 68(3), 473–503. Fish, M. S. (2005). Democracy derailed in Russia: The failure of open politics. Cambridge University Press. Frye, T., Gehlbach, S., Marquardt, K. L., & Reuter, O. J. (2016). Is Putin's popularity real? Post-Soviet Affairs, 33(1), 1–15. Frye, T. (2021). Weak strongman: The limits of power in Putin's Russia. Princeton University Press. Gel'man, V. (2015). Authoritarian Russia: Analyzing post-Soviet regime changes. University of Pittsburgh Press. Gel'man, V. (2022). The politics of bad governance in contemporary Russia. University of Michigan Press. Gill, G. (2015). Building an authoritarian polity: Russia in post-Soviet times. Cambridge University Press. Laruelle, M. (2020). Making sense of Russia's illiberalism. Journal of Democracy, 31(3), 115–129. Petrov, N., Lipman, M., & Hale, H. E. (2013). Three dilemmas of hybrid regime governance: Russia from Putin to Putin. Post-Soviet Affairs, 30(1), 1–26. Reuter, O. J. (2017). The origins of dominant parties: Building authoritarian institutions in post-Soviet Russia. Cambridge University Press. Sakwa, R. (2010). The crisis of Russian democracy: The dual state, factionalism and the Medvedev succession. Cambridge University Press. Sharafutdinova, G. (2020). The red mirror: Putin's leadership and Russia's insecure identity. Oxford University Press. Treisman, D. (2011). Presidential popularity in a hybrid regime: Russia under Yeltsin and Putin. American Journal of Political Science, 55(3), 590–609.

Internal security and the military

Fedor, J. (2011). Russia and the cult of state security: The Chekist tradition, from Lenin to Putin. Routledge. Galeotti, M. (2019). Russian political war: Moving beyond the hybrid. Routledge. Herspring, D. R. (2006). The Kremlin and the high command: Presidential impact on the Russian military from Gorbachev to Putin. University Press of Kansas. Monaghan, A. (2017). Power in modern Russia: Strategy and mobilisation. Manchester University Press. Renz, B. (2006). Putin's militocracy? An alternative interpretation of siloviki in contemporary Russian politics. Europe-Asia Studies, 58(6), 903–924. Soldatov, A., & Borogan, I. (2010). The new nobility: The restoration of Russia's security state and the enduring legacy of the KGB. PublicAffairs. Soldatov, A., & Borogan, I. (2015). The red web: The struggle between Russia's digital dictators and the new online revolutionaries. PublicAffairs. Taylor, B. D. (2011). State building in Putin's Russia: Policing and coercion after communism. Cambridge University Press.

Chechnya

Evangelista, M. (2002). The Chechen wars: Will Russia go the way of the Soviet Union?. Brookings Institution Press. Gilligan, E. (2009). Terror in Chechnya: Russia and the tragedy of civilians in war. Princeton University Press. Hughes, J. (2007). Chechnya: From nationalism to jihad. University of Pennsylvania Press. Kramer, M. (2005). The perils of counterinsurgency: Russia's war in Chechnya. International Security, 29(3), 5–63. Russell, J. (2005). Terrorists, bandits, spooks and thieves: Russian demonisation of the Chechens before and since 9/11. Third World Quarterly, 26(1), 101–116. Russell, J. (2007). Chechnya: Russia's "war on terror". Routledge. Sakwa, R. (Ed.). (2005). Chechnya: From past to future. Anthem Press.

Elections, protest and opposition

Greene, S. A., & Robertson, G. B. (2019). Putin v. the people: The perilous politics of a divided Russia. Yale University Press. Kulichkina, A., Righetti, N., & Waldherr, A. (2025). Protest and repression on social media: Pro-Navalny and pro-government mobilization dynamics and coordination patterns on Russian Twitter. New Media & Society, 27(9), 5433–5454. Robertson, G. B. (2011). The politics of protest in hybrid regimes: Managing dissent in post-communist Russia. Cambridge University Press. Smyth, R. (2020). Elections, protest, and authoritarian regime stability: Russia 2008–2020. Cambridge University Press.

Media and propaganda

Gorham, M. S. (2014). After newspeak: Language culture and politics in Russia from Gorbachev to Putin. Cornell University Press. Pomerantsev, P. (2014). Nothing is true and everything is possible: The surreal heart of the new Russia. PublicAffairs. Skillen, D. (2016). Freedom of speech in Russia: Politics and media from Gorbachev to Putin. Routledge. Sykes, A. (2023). Livid about liberalism: Putin, state controlled television and Kremlin portrayals of liberalism. Russian Politics, 8(3), 331–352.

Religion and the Orthodox Church Garrard, J., & Garrard, C. (2008). Russian Orthodoxy resurgent: Faith and power in the new Russia. Princeton University Press. Shakhanova, G., & Kratochvíl, P. (2022). The patriotic turn in Russia: Political convergence of the Russian Orthodox Church and the state? Politics and Religion, 15(1), 114–141. Soroka, G. (2022). International relations by proxy? The Kremlin and the Russian Orthodox Church. Religions, 13(3), Article 208.

Gender, sexuality and traditional values Blakkisrud, H., & Kolstø, P. (Eds.). (2025). Political legitimacy and traditional values in Putin's Russia. Edinburgh University Press. Kolstø, P. (2025). Family, sex, and faith. Cornell University Press. Riabov, O., & Riabova, T. (2014). The remasculinization of Russia? Problems of Post-Communism, 61(2), 23–35. Sperling, V. (2014). Sex, politics, and Putin: Political legitimacy in Russia. Oxford University Press.

Law, courts and the constitution Hutcheson, D. S., & McAllister, I. (2021). Consolidating the Putin regime: The 2020 referendum on Russia's constitutional amendments. Russian Politics, 6(3), 355–376. Sakwa, R. (2010). The dual state in Russia. Post-Soviet Affairs, 26(3), 185–206. Solomon, P. (2005). Threats of judicial counterreform in Putin's Russia. Demokratizatsiya: The Journal of Post-Soviet Democratization, 13(3), 325–346.

Economic policy

Åslund, A. (2019). Russia's crony capitalism: The path from market economy to kleptocracy. Yale University Press. Gaddy, C. G., & Ickes, B. W. (2013). Bear traps on Russia's road to modernization. Routledge. Ledeneva, A. V. (2013). Can Russia modernise? Sistema, power networks and informal governance. Cambridge University Press. Miller, C. (2018). Putinomics: Power and money in resurgent Russia. University of North Carolina Press.

Energy politics

Gustafson, T. (2012). Wheel of fortune: The battle for oil and power in Russia. Harvard University Press. Rutland, P. (2008). Putin's economic record: Is the oil boom sustainable? Europe-Asia Studies, 60(6), 1051–1072.

Foreign policy

Monaghan, A. (2016). The new politics of Russia: Interpreting change. Manchester University Press. Sakwa, R. (2017). Russia against the rest: The post-Cold War crisis of world order. Cambridge University Press. Stent, A. (2019). Putin's world: Russia against the West and with the rest. Twelve.

Relations with the West

Legvold, R. (2016). Return to Cold War. Polity Press. McFaul, M. (2018). From Cold War to hot peace: An American ambassador in Putin's Russia. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Sakwa, R. (2008). 'New Cold War' or twenty years' crisis? Russia and international politics. International Affairs, 84(2), 241–267. Snyder, T. (2018). The road to unfreedom: Russia, Europe, America. Crown. Stent, A. E. (2014). The limits of partnership: U.S.-Russian relations in the twenty-first century. Princeton University Press. Trenin, D. (2016). Should we fear Russia?. Polity Press.

Middle East Bechev, D., Popescu, N., & Secrieru, S. (Eds.). (2021). Russia rising: Putin's foreign policy in the Middle East and North Africa. I.B. Tauris. Dannreuther, R. (2015). Russia and the Arab Spring: Supporting the counter-revolution. Journal of European Integration, 37(1), 77–94. Dannreuther, R. (2019). Understanding Russia's return to the Middle East. International Politics, 56(6), 726–742.