This is the book that Anna Politkovskaya had recently completed when she was murdered in a contract killing in Moscow. It covers the period from the Russian parliamentary elections of December 2003 to the tragic aftermath of the Beslan school siege in late 2005, and is an unflinching record of the plight of millions of Russians and the cynicism and corruption of Vladimir Putin's presidency. Clear-sighted and passionate, it is a devastating account of contemporary Russia by a great and brave writer.