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."
0 有用 希仁 2017-11-08 05:00:22
回答一个问题,为什么竟无一人是男儿。这学期上SK的seminar受益匪浅,毕竟这是连RK和GJI都说很有兴趣的
1 有用 蛋吉吉 2022-01-22 17:02:19
kotkin我还剩下的只有大部头了。。。
2 有用 狂而无依 2016-03-27 07:11:02
戈尔巴乔夫的改革注定不可能成功,但苏联解体后真正的灾难才开始。
1 有用 一丘一壑也风流 2019-01-05 14:06:24
Why the tranquility and peacefulness of the transition was even possible? 有一股热情在涌动的文字,故事编排得很巧妙。当然还有无数的片段可以被补充进来刻画转型的方法面面。但最后新版本的增添的Epilogue完全无必要。
1 有用 常务副momo 2023-06-03 05:28:32 美国
The Communist fable of socialism with a human face, or Gorbachev's campaign to reinvigorate the socialist system, triggered the collapse of the USSR. Gorbi本质上还是个理想主义者啊。苏联有油,但我们有港台。不少论断今日读来已不觉新鲜,但可以感觉到... The Communist fable of socialism with a human face, or Gorbachev's campaign to reinvigorate the socialist system, triggered the collapse of the USSR. Gorbi本质上还是个理想主义者啊。苏联有油,但我们有港台。不少论断今日读来已不觉新鲜,但可以感觉到出此书在当年是如何重塑关于late socialism的学术讨论。 (展开)
1 有用 常务副momo 2023-06-03 05:28:32 美国
The Communist fable of socialism with a human face, or Gorbachev's campaign to reinvigorate the socialist system, triggered the collapse of the USSR. Gorbi本质上还是个理想主义者啊。苏联有油,但我们有港台。不少论断今日读来已不觉新鲜,但可以感觉到... The Communist fable of socialism with a human face, or Gorbachev's campaign to reinvigorate the socialist system, triggered the collapse of the USSR. Gorbi本质上还是个理想主义者啊。苏联有油,但我们有港台。不少论断今日读来已不觉新鲜,但可以感觉到出此书在当年是如何重塑关于late socialism的学术讨论。 (展开)
0 有用 Amos 2023-04-02 15:20:10 美国
An insightful account and analysis of the last stage of Soviet Union and the new era of Russia.
0 有用 Jacinthe 2023-04-02 12:52:31 北京
现在再看,是delayed而不是averted。西方学者对于autocracy还是天真了,即使是Kotkin这样的Sovietologist
0 有用 沃兰德大剧院 2023-02-02 17:31:02 广东
改革的理想终于被自己构建起的历史神话所吞噬
0 有用 AlataFeles 2022-10-14 18:50:33 安徽
Fancy writing style. I love Brezhnev, but sadly I cannot purchase a printed edition in China. It gave me one of the most joyful journeys for book-reading.