Russia. A History

Z. Barany and R. G. Moser (eds.), Russian Politics: Challenges of Democratization (Cambridge, 2001), broad essays on politics, centre-periphery relations, economic reform, and the armed forces in the 1990s.

M. R. Beissinger, Nationalist Mobilization and the Collapse of the Soviet State (Cambridge, 2002), on the differentiated, but decisive impact of nationalist movements in the break-up of the USSR.

A. Brown, The Gorbachev Factor in Soviet Politics (2nd edn., New York, 1992), incisive analysis of Gorbachev’s role and significance.

———Seven Years That Changed the World: Perestroika in Perspective (Oxford, 2007), valuable retrospective on Gorbachev and perestroika, emphasizing the dynamics that drove policy and decision-making.

M. Buckley (ed.), Perestroika and Soviet Women

(Cambridge, 1992), on the women’s question in the Gorbachev era.

P. Chaisty, Legislative Politics and Economic Power in Russia (New York, 2006), on lawmaking in post-Soviet Russia, emphasizing the parliament’s negative role (in delaying, obstructing legislation) prior to the emergence of Putin’s United Russia.

A. Chernyaev, My Six Years with Gorbachev (University Park, Pa., 2000), valuable memoir by a close aide to Gorbachev.

T. J. Colton, Transitional Citizens: Voters and What Influences Them in the New Russia (Cambridge, Mass., 2000), detailed, sophisticated analysis of the 1995 parliamentary and 1996 presidential elections.

———Yeltsin: A Life (New York, 2008), definitive biography.

W. L. Daniel, E. Stewart, and H. Stewart, The Orthodox Church and Civil Society in Russia

(College Station, Tex., 2006), analysis of three parishes during the renaissance of Orthodoxy in post-Soviet Russia.

C. Freeland, Sale of the Century: Russia’s Wild Ride from Communism to Capitalism (New York, 2000), account of insider politics and corruption.

E. T. Gaidar, Collapse of an Empire: Lessons for Modern Russia (Washington, DC, 2007), informed assessment of the economic crisis and perestroika by the first prime minister in the Yeltsin government.

G. J. Gill, Collapse of a Single-Party System (Cambridge, 1994), on the demise of the Soviet system.

———and R. D. Markwick, Russia’s Stillborn Democracy? From Gorbachev to Yeltsin (Oxford, 2000), introduction to politics in the transition era.

M. S. Gorbachev, Perestroika

(rev. edn., 1988), discussion of the ‘new thinking’ that shows the lack of clear vision, especially on realizing perestroika.

———Memoirs (New York, 1996), spirited defence of his leadership during perestroika.

T. Gustafson, Capitalism Russian-Style (Cambridge, 1999), readable, inclusive account of the transition period.

G. M. Hahn, Russia’s Revolution from Above, 1985–2000: Reform, Transition, and Revolution in the Fall of the Soviet Communist Regime (New Brunswick, NJ, 2002), general survey of perestroika and the break-up of the USSR.

G. A. Hosking, The Awakening of the Soviet Union (rev. edn., Cambridge, Mass., 1991), early assessment of the Gorbachev era.

———et al., Independent Political Movements in the Soviet Union 1985–91

(London, 1992), on the emergence of political pluralism.

J. F. Hough, Democratization and Revolution in the USSR, 1985–1991 (Washington, DC, 1997), on the high politics of perestroika.

———The Logic of Economic Reform in Russia (Washington, DC, 2001), emphasizes the pernicious role of the West in promoting corrupt practices in the economic transition.

International Monetary Fund, A Study of the Soviet Economy, 3 vols. (Washington, 1991), wide-ranging survey of the Soviet economy on the eve of the dissolution of the USSR.

A. C. Lynch, How Russia Is Not Ruled: Reflections on Russian Political Development (Cambridge, 2004), surveys Soviet legacies and turbulent 1990s.

M. McCauley, Gorbachev (London, 1998), overview of Gorbachev and his role in the final years of the USSR.