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    Armageddon Averted: The Soviet Collapse, 1970-2000
    Armageddon Averted: The Soviet Collapse, 1970-2000
    Armageddon Averted: The Soviet Collapse, 1970-2000
    Audiobook5 hours

    Armageddon Averted: The Soviet Collapse, 1970-2000

    Written by Stephen Kotkin

    Narrated by John Pruden

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    Featuring extensive revisions to the text as well as a new introduction and epilogue-bringing the book completely up to date on the tumultuous politics of the previous decade and the long-term implications of the Soviet collapse-this compact, original, and engaging book offers the definitive account of one of the great historical events of the last fifty years.

    Combining historical and geopolitical analysis with an absorbing narrative, Kotkin draws upon extensive research, including memoirs by dozens of insiders and senior figures, to illuminate the factors that led to the demise of Communism and the USSR. The new edition puts the collapse in the context of the global economic and political changes from the 1970s to the present day. Kotkin creates a compelling profile of post Soviet Russia and he reminds us, with chilling immediacy, of what could not have been predicted-that the world's largest police state, with several million troops, a doomsday arsenal, and an appalling record of violence, would liquidate itself with barely a whimper. Throughout the book, Kotkin also paints vivid portraits of key personalities. Using recently released archive materials, for example, he offers a fascinating picture of Gorbachev, describing this virtuoso tactician and resolutely committed reformer as "flabbergasted by the fact that his socialist renewal was leading to the system's liquidation"-and more or less going along with it.

    At once authoritative and provocative, Armageddon Averted illuminates the collapse of the Soviet Union, revealing how "principled restraint and scheming self-interest brought a deadly system to meek dissolution."
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateAug 14, 2018
    ISBN9781977388605
    Armageddon Averted: The Soviet Collapse, 1970-2000
    Author

    Stephen Kotkin

    Stephen Kotkin is the John P. Birkelund '52 Professor in History and International Affairs at Princeton University, where he is also Co-Director of the Program in History and the Practice of Diplomacy and the Director of the Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies. He is the author of Steeltown, USSR (California, 1991).

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    Reviews for Armageddon Averted

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    • 5/5
      Excellent chronicle of the debacle of the previous world evil empire. Let´s hope the Chinese Communist Party soon starts its own.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      I won't say this is a neoliberal perspective but. . .
    • 4/5
      Very readable account that is focused almost entirely on Russia (I had hoped for more on the other republics). Kotkin is perhaps too keen to avoid the idiocies of right (THE EVIL EMPIRE CAN NEVER REFORM AND MUST BE DESTROYED!!!!) and left (AMERICAN ECONOMISTS LED DIRECTLY TO RUSSIAN OLIGARCHY!!!!), and so ends up with the strange position that whenever the USSR ended, it had to lead to massive theft and suffering. You can't blame anyone--not evil Russkies, not evil neoliberals--for what happened. Now, okay, I don't want to blame Milton Friedman for the state of Russia today, but I'm also pretty sure that things could have gone differently.

      Speaking of Putin, the epilogue is deeply depressing reading, all about how Putin and Medvedev could make everything better, and how magnanimous of was of Putin to give up the presidency. Perhaps time for a new epilogue, or just time to re-issue the book without any epilogue whatsoever.
    • 4/5
      This is a quick and easy read focussing more on the collapse of the Soviet Union in the late 80s/early 90s and the progress of Russia thereafter. It doesn't do that much detail and is best viewed as an overview/introduction for someone wanting a to know the basics.
    • 4/5
      Kotkin has written a lively monograph about the (in his opinion) continuing-to-collapse Soviet Union. It fills a somewhat weird niche as an accessible academic book; those who know much about Russian history will find the broad thesis unsurprising, and those who don't know much about Russian history may find themselves at sea - Kotkin doesn't condescend to his readers. Personally, his concentrated prose and despairing yet obviously affectionate take on Russia resonated perfectly with me.The book is really two parts: the factors leading to collapse and apres le deluge, so to speak - but these are just broad thrusts. Kotkin skips through time like Dr Who, pursuing and illustrating his points with a bravura ferocity regardless of decade,location or person. You will find yourself leaping from the Kremlin in the eighties, to Stavropol in the sixties, to Georgia in the nineties, all in the space of a paragraph or two. This whirlwind could be confusing, but Kotkin's prose is lucid, and he does it all in the service of his argument, so it's not too difficult to follow (withstanding the god awful preface, which is just appalling; littered with seemingly infinite commas and begging for some periods). Broadly, his thesis is that the cause of Soviet collapse was Gorbachev's strange cocktail of idealism and political nous; it really was a miracle it hasn't gone worse, and the collapse is still very much in play as of 2000. I do wish that we had seen more of Kotkin's perspective of Putin - assuming the presidency just as Kotkin finishes the book - but it's hard to criticise the guy for something that happened after he published. Additionally, those seeking an insight into life in the Soviet Union may come away disappointed. Kotkin's view is of the general public is a macro-orientated, and he only zooms in on the key actors. Characterisation of everyday Russians is rendered in perspicacious, but broad brush strokes. But these are quibbles. It's a slim book and Kotkin delivers exactly what he promises to the reader, and he does it with a bitey insight and flair. His voice was one of the strongest aspects of the book. Rich as caviar and just as unique, Armageddon Averted will leave you feeling stuffed, spoiled, and perhaps a little surprised.