"'A must-read for those fascinated by the decline and fall of the USSR and the emergence of a new Russia' - Mark Galeotti, author of Forged in War
'Finely argued, carefully researched, and beautifully written' - Norman M. Naimark, author of Stalin and the Fate of Europe
From the acclaimed author of Kremlin Winter and Blood on the Snow, a dramatic and expertly researched account of an extraordinary moment in Russia's recent history: the August Coup.
In the summer of 1991, a group of eight plotters came together to overthrow Mikhail Gorbachëv, then the president of the USSR. These ruthless conspirators, who occupied positions of high office, declared a state of emergency to restore stability through authoritarian rule. The reality turned out to be a shambolic failure which hastened the fall of the USSR and a pivotal shift from communism to capitalism.
Beginning with a minute-by-minute re-enactment of Gorbachëv's capture in his holiday home in Crimea, Robert Service follows the plot from its inception to its humiliating collapse. The troubling side effects of Gorbachëv's well-meant reforms in the Soviet Union - business fraud, government corruption, organized crime and interethnic conflict - increased exponentially, and a New Russia was born. Fathered by Boris Yeltsin, it brought lamentably less benefit to the Russian economy or its people than he had promised.
Linking the years from the coup itself to today's Russia under Vladimir Putin, The August Coup is a thoroughly compelling and original chronicle of a moment that changed Russian and global politics forever."
"In Blood on the Snow, Robert Service returns to the subject that has formed the backbone of his long and distinguished career: the Russian Revolution.
'A terrific book about a terrifying subject by the best historian of Russia working today' - Michael Burleigh, author of The Third Reich
For Service, the great unanswered question is how to reconcile the two narratives that underpin the troubled events of 1917. One puts the blame squarely on Tsar Nicholas II and on Alexander Kerensky's provisional government that deposed him. The other is the view from the bottom, that of the workers and peasants who wanted democratic socialism, not the Bolshevik dictatorship imposed by Vladimir Ilyich Lenin and his successors.
Service's vivid and revisionist account spans the period from the outbreak of the First World War to Lenin's death in 1924. He reveals that key seeds of the revolution were sown by the Tsar's decision to join the war against Germany in 1914. He shows with brutal clarity how those events played out, eventually leading to the establishment of the totalitarian Soviet regime, which would endure for the next seven decades.
Nicholas II, Kerensky and Lenin are to the fore, but Service enriches his narrative by drawing on little-known diaries of those such as the Vologda peasant Alexander Zamaraev, the NCO Alexei Shtukaturov and the Moscow accounts clerk Nikita Okunev. Through the testimony of these 'ordinary' people, Service traces the tortuous path that Russia took through war, revolution and civil war, in his trademark engaging style.
'This authoritative, detailed account shows how Lenin won control of Russia and caused untold misery . . . ' - The Times
Discover more fascinating Russian Revolution titles from Robert Service: Spies and Commissars and The Last of the Tsars."
"This new and revised edition of poems about the men and women of the North features the most loved ballads by Robert Service, and is narrated by Michael Puttonen. While living in Whitehorse, Robert Service wrote The Cremation of Sam McGee, and other well-known poems. He wrote and published into his mid-eighties. He was quoted as saying, I just go for a walk and come back with a poem in my pocket.
Gaiety, humor, nostalgia, and pathos fill every page, along with the genuine Service ring of virility which has made his verse loved throughout the English reading world."
"In Kremlin Winter, Robert Service, acclaimed biographer of Lenin, Stalin and Trotsky and one of the finest historians of modern Russia, brings his deep understanding of that country to bear on the man who leads it.
'One of our most accomplished, erudite and prolific historians of modern Russia' - Rodric Braithwaite, New Statesman
Vladimir Putin has dominated Russian politics since Boris Yeltsin relinquished the presidency in his favour in May 2000. He served two terms as president, before himself relinquishing the post to his prime minister, Dimitri Medvedev, only to return to power for a third time in 2012.
Putin's rule, whether as president or prime minister, has been marked by a steady increase in domestic repression and international assertiveness. Despite this, there have been signs of liberal growth and Putin - and Russia - now faces a far from certain future.
Robert Service reveals a premier who cannot take his supremacy for granted, yet is determined to impose his will not only on his closest associates but on society at large. Authoritative, engaging and meticulously researched, Kremlin Winter is a riveting insight into power politics at a time when Russia faces a blizzard of difficulties both at home and abroad.
'A masterful portrait of Putin and Russia' - Jack Coleman, The Daily Telegraph"
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