When I requested this book, I didn't realize it was a graphic history, but I actually was thrilled to discover it was in this format! It was a fun way to learn about Russian history in this way, especially since I was more aware in the 1980s via my parents than my own adulthood (save during the Ukrainian crisis).

"Accidental Czar: The Life and Lies of Vladimir Putin" by Andrew S. Weiss and Brian "Box" Brown is a gripping graphic novel that traces Vladimir Putin's journey from a mid-level KGB officer to the powerful leader of Russia. Challenging Western stereotypes, the book exposes the calculated performance behind Putin's tough-guy persona and dismantles myths surrounding him. Former White House Russia expert Weiss and artist Brown collaborate to offer readers a fresh perspective on Putin's political rise, providing an insightful and eye-opening exploration of the man behind the political facade.

If you want to understand Putin and how he came into power. This is for you. Do not underestimate this because its a graphic novel. This is a very powerful enlightening read.

This short graphic novel is mostly a biography about Vladimir Putin and outlines how he was able to take power despite many ineptitudes.

I learned a lot, but the pacing on this one felt rushed since it spanned a few generations. There was a great effort to try to explain background information on culture and historical events. Most of the time it was effective. I still felt like I needed much greater background knowledge to appreciate this one. It may be great for readers who are curious and wanted some foundational information before digging deeper into the historical contexts.

The historical events are also skewed towards a more liberal lens which will be a plus for some readers.

If you want to easily understand Putin you won’t go far wrong reading ’Accidenal Czar’ by former White House Russia Expert Andrew Weiss. Don’t underestimate this book because it is a graphic novel style biography. It explains how a former mid-level KGB officer became President and how his tough-guy persona is a calculated performance, no more than a myth. By casting himself as a political mastermind, we have played into the Kremlin’s hands.

We can only hope this story has a happy ending that we see very soon.

Thank you to netgalley for providing an e-galley for review. The Accidental Czar by Andrew Weiss and Box Brown was a fascinating read. The graphic novel format made the otherwise dense information much more easy to read and comprehend. One of the biggest things that stands out is the intense paranoia that Putin has and it comes through on the pages, particularly when it comes to democratic procedure and foreign policy. Unlike most biographies of tyrants that are written, this one you can't take a breath and say, well at least that's over, which makes it all that much more terrifying.

Vladimir Putin's rise to power was unusual and unlikely. How a volatile young man, a somewhat inept lowly KGB agent became the leader of Russia is full of chance and circumstance. Now one of the most powerful leaders in the world, trying to understand his mindset is near to impossible, but this book gives us the history and character study necessary to try to decode where Putin is going based on where he has come from.

Ruling Russia is tricky. For centuries, tsars ruled the vast land of Russia, but that ended with the Revolution of 1917. After a bloody civil war, the Communists under Lenin, followed by Stalin, followed by several more leaders ruled the Soviet Union of Socialist Republics. But this ended in 1991 under Premier Gorbachev. Boris Yeltsin became president of a shrunken Russia. Then in 2000, Vladimir Putin managed to wrangle his way into the presidency. Why him? Not to mention how?

Andrew Weiss lays out his credentials in the introduction - opening with "I'm Andrew Weiss, and I'm a Russia geek." He then proceeds to outline the interactions between Russia and the U.S.A. under Yeltsen and Putin culminating in the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. To understand Putin, Weiss argues, you need to understand hi motivation and the history behind them.

Weiss covers Putin's career in the KGB both in USSR and in East Germany in Chapter 1 - Super Spy. Chapter 2 - Riding High - highlights how Russia is controlled by personal ties, not institutions or law. Chapter 3 - O Lucky Man! - delves into Putin's rise to become president of Russia via Kremlin's "Operation Successor" talent search. Chapter 4 - Into the Abyss - is split between Putin's and the Kremlin's views that any opposition is fueled by "outside influencers" such as Soros or the CIA and Putin's life in St. Petersburg during the 1990s. Chapter 5 - Frontal Assault - opens with Putin returning to power in 2011/2012 with blatantly rigged elections. The chapter then dives into Russian history and the roots of the ideology Putin follows - "orthodoxy, autocracy, and nationality." Then came the Sochi Olympics and street protests in Ukraine that led to President Yanukovych's ouster. Crimea was seized and annexed and Russia backed separatists in Eastern Ukraine. Chapter 6 - Feet of Clay - lays bare the ways that Putin and the Kremlin sought to influence a whole host of countries via social media, "useful idiots," hack-and-leak attacks, infiltrating fringe organizations, and a host of other ways all to keep Ukraine out of NATO and the EU. When that did not seem to work, Putin launched his secret plan to militarily take-over the country. Chapter 7 - A Deeply Unsatisfying Ending - briefly sums up the problem Putin has created for himself and the rest of the world.

Andrew Weiss provides in graphic form a succinct history of Putin and his view of Russia. He draws upon his knowledge and experience to document especially relevant history in light of recent events. Readers who are following the news or are interested in the causes behind the news will find plenty to digest in Accidental Czar.

Thanks Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book.

Accidental Czar seems promising but ultimately falls flat.

The blurb entails this would be solely about Russia's current leader, Vladimir Putin, and his seemingly meteoric and startling rise to power. What it's actually about is, well, yes, Poot but also a brief history of his predecessors, rocky relations with other countries, particularly the U.S., corruption and scandal at the hands of Russian operatives, etc. basically everything but the kitchen sink. While all of that contextually makes sense, it was just too much and it didn't work that well as a graphic novel.

Weiss is certainly an expert in his field and within the confines of a graphic novel, he did alright with explaining as much as he could, but this would've fared much better as an actual novel. It's both informative and vague. There's too much information crammed onto the page and it didn't flow well - timelines jump back and forth so much it's a little disorienting - nor was it really attention-grabbing. I really struggled to keep my focus on this. It's so damn dry, like reading a textbook or a dossier, and it got to a point where I couldn't comprehend the clump of words I was staring at, I just had to step away and do something else.

The book ends unintentionally on a cliffhanger - the final draft was submitted just months shy of the Ukraine invasion. Though Weiss discusses Russia's years of bullying Ukraine, readers wanting to read about the current situation with Ukraine will be largely disappointed.

I don't know, I just expected a different book. I learned a little bit, like how prior to his major promotion, Putin was basically super boring and forgettable - on page 65, he was described by former Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott as "[having] the manner of a disciplined, efficient, self-effacing executive assistant" - and no one expected he'd be in this position of ultimate power for long, nor that he'd accidentally set the world on fire through paranoia and impulsivity.

Despite my qualms, I think Weiss's final words in the Afterword are perfect food-for-thought and an excellent way to end the book: "The world is waking up to the reality that Putin was never the master strategist he made himself out to be. He is an improviser who has stumbled into a trap he built all by himself."

Thank you to NetGalley and First Second Books for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Pub date: November 8, 2022

I’ve been trying to read through this book for months but I’ve been unable to finish it. It's chock full of really important information. I just couldn't get into it.

The idea of the book is this is a biography of Putin. Unfortunately the focus of the book as I read it was not that clear. Putin, yes, but in which context? Modern day Russia? Sure. The ongoing war in Ukraine and its buildup? Mostly that. But in that sense it wasn't as detailed as maybe I would have liked or hoped for.

Thank you to NetGalley and First Second Publishing for an eARC of Accidental Czar: The Life and Lies of Vladimir Putin by Andrew S. Weiss, illustrated by Brian Brown in exchange for an honest review.

CW: war, fascism, communism, Naziism, Trump, watch for growing list on StoryGraph.

The title says it all, I won't provide an in-depth summary here. This is a graphic novel depicting the rise and rule of Vladimir Putin, up to and including the early months of 2022 when Putin invaded Ukraine.

I've said this a couple of times over the last few months, but I am finding that graphic novels are one of the best ways for me personally to consume history and politics. There's something about graphic novels that is easy and assuages some of my guilt about being relatively uninformed about recent global events. Their language is generally very accessible and the pictures help me to connect the events to my own memories, particularly as I endeavor to learn more about the history that I personally have lived through but not been informed about.

For a book that was about Putin, there was not as much Putin content as I was expecting. A vast majority of this book comprised of a political history of Russia as a state, which of course contextualized Putin's current presidency. The biggest takeaway that I got from this book was learning how specifically Russia was involved in manipulating American politics during the 2016 presidential election. I never felt that I had a solid understanding of Russia's involvement, as much of the American news outlets were beyond sensational in their coverage throughout the election cycle. Furthermore, I see so many parallels between Putin's mediocrity and paranoia and Trump's. The following panel from the book made everything click for me: "'A senior western diplomat once gave [the author] the best explanation about what it's like to deal with Putin.' The panel depicts a human brain divided into three sections. 'Putin's brain:' (Section 1: Upper half of the brain encompassing the frontal and parietal lobes, the cortices of the brain largely responsible for conscious thought and experience) 'Things that he knows firsthand from working on so many issues over the years at the highest levels and the grievances he's built up', (Section 2, frontal lower section of brain, where the temporal lobe is responsible for language processing and visual-spatial orientation). 'His knowledge of the real world, the one that we all live in', and (Section 3 located in the hindbrain, sometimes called the 'lizard brain' because it houses the earliest evolutionary structures of the brain, including the amygdala, whereby we register threat), 'Conspiracy-mongering and total nonsense supplied by the intelligence services and carrier bureaucracy. The problem when you're talking to [Putin] is you never know which part of his brain he's operating in. He constantly toggles back and forth.'" The visual of Putin's brain and personal epistemology shown in this way helped me to understand the functionality of the relationship between Putin and Trump. The two megalomaniacs act as one another's' puppets in their desire to advance their own power at the expense of anyone who gets in their way.

Unfortunately, this book is already out of date before its publication. The graphic novel proper includes some limited information about Putin's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and the author provided a brief afterward that he wrote in March of 2022, which spoke briefly about the continuing war crisis unfolding in Ukraine. However, as we all know, that story is far from over, and the author cannot possibly do this moment in time the justice it deserves until we can say with minor certainty that it is over. I doubt the author will be able to go back to update the book before its slated publication date, and who's to say whether the war in Ukraine will even have passed by November. Much like the title of the final chapter of this book, this is "A Deeply Unsatisfying Ending." Though I can also see the argument that because of the current events in Ukraine, this is precisely the time TO move forward with publishing this book. It may ensure that this book finds a wider audience than it would have if Russia were not already top of mind.

My other primary critique is that the author is a self proclaimed "Russia Geek" and personally served at the Pentagon within the department of defense. He has been able to sit it on important conversations with presidents and other higher ups as events in Russia have transpired over the past 20+ years, all of which he explains in the introduction of the book. Because of his personal experiences with some of the events depicted in the book, Weiss would infrequently insert first-person assertions without an accompanying pictorial representation of himself, which I found obtrusive and jarring within the cohesive narrative. Whenever I saw that pesky word "I", I had to pause and remind myself of the author's personal role. This is clearly not a memoir, but had I skipped reading the introduction (as many readers do), I would have been utterly confused by the presence of the occasional person language.

I will go ahead and say that I do recommend this book, particularly if you're like me and have found the last six years utterly baffling and would like a slowed-down explanation of WTF has been happening. But do proceed with caution, as the story of Putin and Russia are still be written as we speak. And like all forms of media, this graphic novel is not completely free of bias. The author's final pages of this book did leave me with the taste of some American patriotic propaganda in my mouth, which left me questioning as I have so often over the past six years, are we really any better than any other country that severely sensors its media? We seem to be just as extreme in many ways, but we laud ourselves as the greatest country in the world. I have never been sure that that is true, and as time goes on, I am convinced that our utter, blind pride will be our downfall.

The war in Ukraine has brought up many questions for people in the West, especially about leader Vladimir Putin. Starting as a mid-level KGB officer, Vladimir Putin has spent his life becoming the leader of Russia. In Accidental Czar, former white house Russia expert Andrew S. Weiss, uses the format of the graphic novel to explore how Putin came to power and why Ukraine is such a draw. The graphic novel is excellent and an easy to understand look at Russia.

Accidental Czar is a graphic novel about Vladimir Putin beginning in his childhood years, following him through his early years in the KGB, then to his rise as the president of Russia, and finally bringing us to the invasions of Ukraine. In addition, there is history shared on Russia's governmental systems throughout the years.

As a psychologist who also has a passion for sociology, I found this graphic novel very interesting. It gives the early background that helps us to maybe understand a bit of how Putin operates and what his priorities are. The author also has a history of working in national security, which gives a perspective on how Russia has been governed over the years and the current political focuses and flashpoints in Russia - all of this helps us to understand how Russians may be viewing Putin's actions.

If you are looking for a deep analysis or biography, this is not is it. But if you are someone who is invested in understanding international affairs and and would like to at least familiarize yourself with at least the basics, this is a great fit.

An illustrated polemic, “Accidental Czar” takes pictorial potshots at the egregious President of Russia, Vladimir Putin. While the heavy lifting on Putin’s adventures and misadventures (mostly the latter) is done by Andrew S. Weiss, former director for Russian, Ukrainian, and Eurasian Affairs on the National Security Council staff, and currently the James Family Chair and vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the allegations against Putin are accompanied by exquisitely drawn pictures by noted cartoonist, Brian “Box” Brown.

If the book’s purpose is to serve as a primer in blowing the lid on the shenanigans of a purported megalomaniac, it succeeds beyond the wildest imaginations of its authors even! The quintessential motive of Weiss and Brown is to dispel the widely accepted ‘strong-man myth’ attached to Putin – and in whose reflected glory, he unashamedly basks – and to portray him as a fatally flawed character who is a bundle of contradictions and agglomeration of insecurities. Even if the authors do not identify an Achilles Heel, they sure lash out in the tenderest of spots exposed by an otherwise iron clad armour.

Tracing Putin’s early career the authors illustrate how Putin turned out to be an absolute failure in his quest to rise to the highest echelon of the Russian Secret Service, the KGB. Inspired from a young age by the staple diet of spy movies such as The Sword and The Shield and by the highly embellished and exaggerated exploits of two famous Russian secret service agents, Pavel Belov and Stierlitz, Putin had his eyes set on a glamorous James Bond like career in the world of espionage. To his credit after graduating with a Law Degree from the University of Leningrad, Putin enrolled himself with the Russian secret service. However hotheadedness and an intemperate brawl in a subway poured hot water on his dreams as Putin was forced to vacate an elite training programme offered by the famous Red Banner Institute deep in the jungles of Moscow.

A dull and drab sojourn at the insipid KGB office in Dresden, East Germany was the only available option for Putin. Following Glasnost and Perestroika, President Gorbachev’s last ditch efforts to bring a semblance of order to a crumbling empire, and an alcoholic Boris Yeltsin’s desperate gamble to protect himself and his family from a corrupt house of cards, Putin, who was looked at as a non-descript yet pliant individual, was made President of Russia, in return for guaranteeing Yeltsin and his cronies a clean chit.

With Putin began the reign of the oligarchs. People displaying fidelity towards him were richly rewarded and those opposing him either deprived of their fortunes – if lucky – or divested of their lives – if unlucky. Russia went back to the early 1800s where while stealing was not viewed as a crime, stealing beyond one’s ranks, surely was! But Putin early in his political tenure was not the brash, brazen and arrogant individual whom the world recognises today. In fact according to former Putin advisor, Gleb Pavlovsky, Putin needed to be asked to act more rudely and hence the photo ops and videos of the President riding in tanks, aircrafts and submarines.

As Weiss and Brown elucidate, Putin is an ideal Gosudarstvennik, a complicated Russian word which loosely translates to ‘a supporter of a strong state as an end in itself’. Orthodoxy, aristocracy and nationality, the trifecta adorning the philosophy behind every Czarist regime, came naturally to Putin. Paraphrasing the famed historian Edward L. Keenan, Weiss and Brown, write, it speaks volumes that even in the later 16th century, when the round trip to the capital could occupy the better part of the year, even simple real estate transactions conducted in tiny villages in the Arctic Circle, were registered and approved in Moscow.”

The book also describes Putin’s obsession in brining Ukraine back to its ‘rightful’ place. This obsession first manifested in an insidious cyber attack on Ukraine in 2014. This vicious virus named Notpetnya, crippled Ukrainian infrastructure, and brought the country to its knees, This was soon followed by the dastardly attack on the nation and the annexation of Crimea. But these moves served as mere appetizers for the primary horror fare to follow. In February 2021, Putin commenced a full fledged invasion of Ukraine, an inglorious assault that still continues unabated at the time of review.

However, the NATO countries that have jumped onto the sanctions bandwagon still continue to import natural gas from Russia by the barrels. Wonder what the seasoned Weiss would have to say about this charade.

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I liked how accessible the information was, especially to someone like me, with a meager understanding of Russian history and culture. I appreciated, as well, that the book delved into the nuances of politics and international relations. It didn’t treat anything as a black-and-white problem with easy solutions. I was most interested in the conjectures of how Putin’s life informs his current decision making and the way he builds the image he wants us all to see and fear. I walked away from this book with a more solid understanding of Putin and with plenty of questions about what happens next. That’s the sign of a good book.

"Accidental Czar" is accidentally out of date upon publication. The author covers the introduction of the most recent Ukraine invasion, but reading in June with a release set for November feels like an unlucky case of bad timing. The persona that Putin built up over three decades has found itself lacking in the face of actual opposition. The biographical information is helpful, but in the face of weirdly photographed table scenes and rumors of legitimate illness and the first debt default in 100 years, this feels like something that should have been rushed to market as soon as the printers could get it published rather than wait.

My thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review.

It's an extremely important graphic novel these days.
We need to know the origin of the evil we observe so we can fight it. We need to know the story, and in this form, it is very accessible.
I will be recommending this graphic novel!

An insightful look into the life and politics of Vladimir Putin. I thought this book would be already dated before release as it does not include the invasion of Ukraine. I do see that a future edition would include an update on what went on during 2022 and beyond. Overall, this book was very informative on why Putin would make a choice to invade when it seems so nonsensical to those on the outside.

A really interesting view of the life of such a volatile man. The artwork is amazing. Really soft on the eyes and quite calming.