A Failed Empire: The Soviet Union in the Cold War from Stalin to Gorbachev (New Cold War History)

Author: Vladislav M. Zubok List Price: $23.95 You save: USD 8.67 (36%) Buy new: $15.28 Buy used: $12.84 Avg.Rating: ( reviews) Sales rank: 35535 Qty: 55 in stock Media: Edition: Reading Level: Pages: 504 Number Of Items: Shipping Weight (lbs): 150 Dimensions (in): 600 x 900 x 140 ISBN: 0807859583 EAN: 9780807859582 ASIN: 0807859583 Publication Date: 2009-02-01 Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours

Similar Items

Editorial Reviews:

Western interpretations of the Cold War--both realist and neoconservative--have erred by exaggerating either the Kremlin's pragmatism or its aggressiveness, argues Vladislav Zubok. Explaining the interests, aspirations, illusions, fears, and misperceptions of the Kremlin leaders and Soviet elites, Zubok offers a Soviet perspective on the greatest standoff of the twentieth century.

Using recently declassified Politburo records, ciphered telegrams, diaries, and taped conversations, among other sources, Zubok explores the origins of the superpowers' confrontation under Stalin, Khrushchev's contradictory and counterproductive attempts to ease tensions, the surprising story of Brezhnev's passion for detente, and Gorbachev's destruction of the Soviet superpower as the by-product of his hasty steps to end the Cold War and to reform the Soviet Union. The first work in English to cover the entire Cold War from the Soviet side, A Failed Empire provides a history different from those written by the Western victors.

In this widely praised book, Vladislav Zubok argues that Western interpretations of the Cold War have erred by exaggerating either the Kremlin's pragmatism or its aggressiveness. Explaining the interests, aspirations, illusions, fears, and misperceptions of the Kremlin leaders and Soviet elites, Zubok offers a Soviet perspective on the greatest standoff of the twentieth century. Using recently declassified Politburo records, ciphered telegrams, diaries, and taped conversations, among other sources, Zubok offers the first work in English to cover the entire Cold War from the Soviet side. A Failed Empire provides a history quite different from those written by the Western victors. In a new preface for this edition, the author adds to our understanding of today's events in Russia, including who the new players are and how their policies will affect the state of the world in the twenty-first century.