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Rating: 
Summary: Good Man, Good Book, Great Loss
Review: Any question about the accurcy of this author's research, or the validity of his conclusions? Mr. Klebnikov's horrific murder establishes clearly how important it was to silence his attempts to get at the truth. Libel suits were insufficient. Villifying attacks on his character by critics, who served as defenders of the faith for the new reign of oligarchs residing (at least part of the time) in Russia, were not enough. This was an assasination, and a patent warning to anyone who would dare to expose the mottled monied corruption of Russia's select few "capitalists". Mr. Klebnikov's work will ensure that his life, and death, had meaning. His murder ensures that someone will pick up the lantern and refuse to be shooed away with suits, smear, or assaults.
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Summary: Blaming Berezovky
Review: I admit to skimming the second half of this book. If there is a story here, I couldn't follow it because of all the blind alleys it went into while trying to pin all of Russia's current follies onto a single individual. This central thesis simply isn't credible. Russia is a large, complex, and easily misunderstood country, with a long history of unscrupulous characters vying for its assets, from its serfs to its natural gas monopoly. The "Oligarchs" are only the most recent incarnation of this tendancy, but at least they have had a positive effect: More democratisation, a burgoning open media infrastructure, and the rise of power center outside of Russia's bureaucracy. Had the author spent a little more time researching Russian history and the current economic situation, he would have had a better story to tell. Not that this book is entirely without merit. It has a couple of extreme anecdote about the Russian "mafia" that could have been taken right out of the New York Post. However, the author seemed more intent concentrating all of Russia's ills onto a single individual, which is simply not realisic.
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Summary: RIP Paul Klebnikov
Review: I'm afraid folks are going a little overboard in rewriting history to celebrate a murdered friend or colleague. This book illustrates a flawed reporter willing to bend the truth and ethics for a story. That, pure and simble, is why Forbes lost the libel suit brought on by Berezovsky. Even more alarmingly this book seems to have been written by someone trying to emulate traditional prejudices the White Russian aristocracy that he so much wanted to join. Amongst the ex-pat circle in Moscow, Klebnikov's embarrasing anti-Jewish outbursts earned him the moniker "Progrom Paul."
Although noone really should have taken this writer too seriously, someone out there apparantly did, and that's the tragedy of this story. RIP Paul Klebnikov. Noone deserves to be murdered for being a poor reporter.
Rating: 
Summary: Entertaining and useful, but ultimately too narrow
Review: In this book, author Klebnikov offers insight into the dramatic decline of Russia by tracking the rise of Boris Berezovsky into the country's archetypical 'oligarch' business baron. This approach is both its strength and ultimately its greatest weakness. The book is neither history nor biography, but a long-form current affairs piece somewhere in between. Klebnikov gamely assembles a broad range of information into an indictment of robber capitalism at its most malignant, replete with gangland slayings, political payoffs, and shady finances. Surely, much of what Klebnikov describes did occur. At the same time, however, the field of vision is too narrow to give fair treatment to Russia's terribly flawed transition from command economy to capitalism. In this regard, the book needs to be placed within a better context-and the book that would provide this context, I suspect, has yet to be written (if only because Russia is still stuck in mid-stream). As for the specific assaults on Berezovsky, the author appears to rely too heavily on sources with their own agendas and antipathy towards the billionaire. His emphasis puts too much on Berezovsky's shoulders. Blame for Russia's problems, including the billions of dollars siphoned out of the economy, stretches beyond this individual or even his cronies. Nonetheless, Klebnikov provides a well-written, journalist's view of Russia's first chaotic post-Soviet years, including a rare opportunity for foreigners to hear key figures comment in their own words. And even for those who have followed the development of Russia over the past few years, Klebnikov's reporting adds fresh color. All in all, this is an entertaining and enlightening book for the Russia hand. For those interested in post-Soviet Russian history, this book provides a limited perspective, which in turn is somewhat distorted by the emphasis on Berezovsky. In either case, Godfather of the Kremlin should be read with a critical eye.
Rating:
Summary: Very good reseach and a wonderful book!
Review: It is very sad that he lost his life. Please accept my condolences. Enjoy reading the book. This book should be read in connection with book like "The Oligarchs" by David Hoffman, and other related titles. Mr. Klebnikov is a great writer with extensive research from his sources. For anyone interested in doing business with Russia, this book is extremely informative.
Rating:
Summary: He paid with his life
Review: Paul Klebnikov died yesterday (7/10/04) in Moscow because he had the courage to print the truth as he uncovered it through relentless investigative journalism. Anyone--such as some of the reviewers at this site--who dismisses this book because of some trivial libel suit brought by Berezovsky in London is making a mistake. Klebnikov was no small-time journalist with an axe to grind. He had a PhD in Russian history from the London School of Economics and was a senior editor for Forbes magazine. He was an American of Russian heritage who spoke Russian fluently and who used his abilities to investigate the looting of Russia that took place in the early 1990's. He loved Russia and wrote what he learned about the looting that was going on. Everything Klebnikov says in this book can also be found in The Oligarchs by Hoffman (Washington Post), Putin's Russia by Shevtsova (Carnegie Endowment) and The Tragedy of Russia's Reforms by Reddaway (George Washington University). They all cite and/or quote Klebnikov with approval. I can't recommend this book highly enough to anyone who wants an introduction to the murky world of Russian privatization during the '90's. Incidentally, Berezovsky actually took out a full-page ad in the New York Times to tell the world he is not a crook. However, like some of the other oligarchs, he is wanted in Russia for tax evasion, fraud, etc. Read the book and find out all about him.
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Summary: Good Man, Good Book, Great Loss
Review: Sadly, I did not pick up Paul Klebnikov's book until July 9, 2004, the day of his gruesome murder. I have always had a passing interest in Russian culture and was a reader, and admirer, of Mr. Klebnikov's pieces in Forbes. -Godfather of the Kremlin: The Decline of Russia in the Age of Gangster Capitalism- reads like a novel. However, these events did happen, despite the blind eye Mr. Yeltsin turned. Mr. Klebnikov puts together strong arguments and raises some disturbing questions as to what was going on in Russia during the 1990's. Further, his murder has done nothing but confirm, in my eyes, what he had written and discovered. I hope others continue his work, and I hope Forbes continues to employ those with Paul Klebnikov's thirst for knowledge and truth. I send my deepest regrests to his family.
Rating:
Summary: A fantastic portrayal of gangster capitalism in Russia
Review: The first time I had heard about this book was because of a class I was taking. Then I started hearing about Paul Klebnikov in the news when he died and then more recently with Putin's reigning in of Yukos and Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
This book is a chilling indictment of Russia's mismanaged economic reforms and a powerful revelation of the true powerbrokers in Yeltsin's Russia. Corruption, Murder, Gangster war, terrorism and all is revealed in a detailed and thoroughly researched form. To truly understand today's Russia, one must read this book. There may be many who may contest the contents (even I found several parts of the book incredulous) but this book makes a very compelling case against most of Russia's Oligarchs.
Rating: 
Summary: A good read about capital flight.......
Review: What is capital flight? According to the author, a man named Boris Berezovsky was quite the expert at this. Take over a Russian company with government funds, kill anyone who gets in the way, and take over its assets by funnelling them out of the country, or filling filthy Chechen rebels' pockets with ransom money thus stripping the country of its vital tax assets to pay for social programs, pensions and wages. What isn't good about this book has been the reviews. Some are calling it bunk because Berezovsky is in Spain now, or the author wrote the book at the time he was involved in a lawsuit with the man, but they don't get specific enough about why this discredits the book. To dismiss Berezovsky as not being capable of the fiscal atrocities he has caused Russia is to dismiss Stalin, Hitler and Napoleon as well. Of course the former didn't commit his acts alone(the book is clear about this) and neither did the latter. Insofar as to the credibility of this manuscript, Harcourt and Amazon.com both have some apologizing to do for selling what could be a complete joke or they don't have to do anything at all because what Klebnikov wrote is indeed factual. What do I believe? I truly believe this book confirms that Boris Yeltsin screwed the Russian people out of millions of their own rubles and did so because he allowed a kniving little Russian business mogul and thief named Boris Berezovsky to do so. This book explains this relationship very well. I would also like to request that any negative review of this book be accompanied by similarly massive appendices and footnotes to the contrary that Klebnikov afforded his readers to clarify his findings.
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