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The Wagner Group: Inside Russia’s Mercenary Army
Reaktion Books (2024)
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Jack Margolin’s book The Wagner Group: Inside Russia’s Mercenary Army exposes the history and the future of The Wagner Group, revealing details of their operations never documented before.
Using extensive leaks, first-hand accounts, and the byzantine paper trail left in its wake, Margolin traces the Wagner Group from its roots as a battlefield rumour to a private military enterprise tens of thousands-strong that eventually comes to threaten Putin himself. He follows individual commanders and foot soldiers within the group as they fight in Ukraine, Syria, and Africa, sometimes alongside fellow military contractors from the United Kingdom and the US. He shows Wagner mercenaries committing atrocities, plundering oil, diamonds, and gold, and changing the course of conflicts from Europe to Africa in the name of the Kremlin’s strategic aims.
In documenting the Wagner’s Group’s story up to the dramatic demise of its chief director, Evgeniy Prigozhin, Margolin demonstrates what the Wagner Group represents for not only the future of Putin’s political system, but also the privatization of war.
Praise for The Wagner Group:
‘Jack Margolin, an independent researcher and expert on modern mercenaries, provides a deeply reported history of the Wagner private military company.’
— The Financial Times
— The Financial Times
‘Margolin debuts with a riveting history of the Wagner Group (...) [he] builds to a fascinating portrait of a modern Russian political sphere governed by symbolism and performance (...) and a global order in which violence easily permeates civil society by posing as mere business. It’s a vital window onto the weird world of secretive, privatized modern warfare.‘
— Publisher’s Weekly (Starred review)
‘At once deeply-researched and as readable as a thriller.’
– Mark Galeotti, author of Putin's Wars
‘With an almost encyclopaedic knowledge of all things Wagner, Margolin takes readers deep into the shadowy underworld of the notorious mercenary group. A must-read.’
– Clarissa Ward, CNN Chief International Correspondent and author of On All Fronts: The Education of a Journalist
‘An important book about the world’s most dangerous mercenary outfit. Margolin unearths new details that will surprise readers.’
– Sean McFate, National Defense University and author of The New Rules of War
‘In this gripping and meticulous guide … Margolin charts Wagner’s heady rise and Prigozhin’s calamitous fall with an eye to an international context and the West’s own complicity.’
– Jade McGlynn, author of Russia’s War
‘This fascinating history … will appeal to anyone interested in the criminality, violent military exploits, and political infighting of Vladimir Putin’s Russia.’
– Kimberly Marten, Barnard College, Columbia University