The Putin Interviews

Oliver Stone Interviews Vladimir Putin

By: Oliver Stone

Narrated by: Pete Cross, Qarie Marshall

Length: 9 hrs and 45 mins

Publisher's summary

WITH SUBSTANTIAL MATERIAL NOT INCLUDED IN THE DOCUMENTARY

Academy Award winner Oliver Stone was able to secure what journalists, news organizations, and even other world leaders have long coveted: extended, unprecedented access to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The Putin Interviews are culled from more than a dozen interviews with Putin over a two-year span—never before has the Russian leader spoken in such depth or at such length with a Western interviewer. No topics are off limits in the interviews, which first occurred during Stone’s trips to meet with NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden in Moscow and most recently after the election of President Donald Trump.

Prodded by Stone, Putin discusses relations between the United States and Russia, allegations of interference in the US election, and Russia’s involvement with conflicts in Syria, Ukraine, and elsewhere across the globe. Putin speaks about his rise to power and details his relationships with Presidents Clinton, George W. Bush, Obama, and Trump. The exchanges are personal, provocative, and at times surreal. At one point, Stone asks, “Why did Russia hack the election?”; at another, Stone introduces him to Stanley Kubrick’s 1964 Cold War satire Dr. Strangelove, which the two watch together.

Stone has interviewed controversial world leaders before, including Hugo Chavez, Fidel Castro, and Benjamin Netanyahu. But The Putin Interviews, in its unmediated access to one of the most enigmatic and powerful men in the world, can only be compared to the series of conversations between David Frost and Richard Nixon we now refer to as “The Nixon Interviews” of 1977.

The book will also contain references and sources that give readers a deeper understanding of the topics covered in the interviews and make for a more robust reading experience.

©2017 Oliver Stone (P)2017 Dreamscape Media, LLC

The voice

The voice of putin could be better, but in general is very good. Thank you for your impartiality

Excellently told

This is excellent. Better in fact than the showtime interview. Get to know Russia and Putin through these interviews. Don't let the mainstream media poison you to Russia or the Russian President. Worth your time and quite interesting as well.

Oliver Stone should receive Nobel Peace prize

Highest marks !!!!

Oliver Stone should receive Nobel Peace prize

Also narrated and footnoted superbly

Congratulations

great book

I really enjoyed it it made Putin seem more human but I'm such a dictator you got to hear the other side of the coin

Excellent audio book.

By the end I thought I was actually listening to Oliver Stone and Putin. The voice actors are really outstanding.

Can't wait to watch on TV

This is great. Lots of insight and great interview by Stone.
I actually can't help but to like Putin. More so than our current president.

A must read by any means

It's the first time I've read an audiobook non stop. Not only the content it's great but also the intent behind it is a remarkable effort to shine light on the reality of the Russian perspective on many of the world issues.

Worth listening to.

I’m so glad these interviews are available as an audiobook. This interview is worth listening to. You learn a lot about both men and the situation that we are currently in.

Good, Fair, Interesting Chance for Putin's View

I chose this audiovox because I wanted to hear Putin's views with the least bias possible. This book, for me, hit the mark for this goal even better than Putin's "autobiography."
While I did not particularly enjoy Stone's anti-American-Government bent that is evident in the interviews, I think such an approach was necessary to get the whole side of certain stories. Yes, it allowed for a bit of bias, but it's an understandable bias. In history and studies of contemporary policy, there will always be a bias, but Stone's bias was unhidden and therefore easy to analyze in putting together my views. Also, I'm not under a grand illusion that the United States Government is innocent or completely moral in all situations. Without commenting on the truth or untruth of some controversial views about US foreign policy, it's enlightening to know the criticisms.
Putin does his very best to come across as not being anti-American nor completely anti-American-Government, but Stone's approach and Stone's personal views allow for an atmosphere where Putin can clearly (or as clearly as the president's rhetorical style allows) put forward his views and his side of the story. These views and that side of the story often run from at least differently to at most completely contrary and even hostile to their US and/or Western versions.
This book had most of what I hoped it would have. I was hoping to hear Putin's response to human-rights violations beyond token discussions of surveillance (or controlled-access information storage, as I paraphrase Putin's description of it) and the LGBT issue. Nothing much was brought up in any meaningful way about the environment for political opposition nor the treatment of the same. I especially refer here to questioning techniques, the use of physical force, the use of Prussia, and the behavior of prison officials. This is why, not being able to put 4.5 stars for either, I gave 5 stars overall and 4 for story. I might have dropped to 4 stars in both areas, but I think it very important that the greatest possible number of U.S. residents and citizens (as well as other readers throughout the world) should read this book. It's vital to hear the other side of the story.
I enjoyed both of the narrators. Both are talented in not only reading the transcripts of the interviews, but in conveying meaning through different types of laughing, sighing, etc., that I imagine were part of the original interviews. The narrator for Putin used just enough of a Russian accent to let you know who he was supposed to represent - there was no problem with comprehensibility. I found tonalities of voice to be appropriate for both the situations - both narrators are very talented in this area.
Finally, I was surprised - more than I expected (I did expect this) - at the almost crisis-of-faith reaction I had as far as my views on U.S. policy. Some of this shows that the audiobook did a good job presenting me what I wanted, i.e. another view ... the other side of the story. I realized that all I needed to do was put myself in a frame of mind where I didn't consider anything said in the audiobook or by U.S. sources as being necessarily true. I don't mean this misanthropically; in this useful frame of mind, I didn't consider any statements as being necessarily false either. In this way, Putin's statements - and equally informative dodging of questions - allowed me to form my views of the situations in geopolitics using both sides of the story. I sincerely hope that many more readers/listeners/watchers will take this opportunity.

Totally awesome

This is a must to heard book for all those who wants to understand the world we live in right now, a unique opportunity to get first hand information, without being manipulated by the media.