Tom Nichols book is a wonderfully challenging but comfortably readable analysis of the role of presidentialism in holding together Russia's fragile democracy. He provides enough background for capable but untutored readers like myself to understand his thesis, but never so much that you feel like you're in an introductory course. Read the footnotes. The long ones not only contribute to a lay reader's overall understanding of the subject, but on occasion are downright funny. A wonderful book.