Yeltsin

In "Yeltsin", Harvard professor and Soviet expert Timothy J. Colton traces the life and struggles of Russia's first popularly elected president, Boris Yeltsin: a man who rose from agrarian roots to forge a new destiny for Russia, and whose attempt at bringing democracy to his countrymen remains one [...]
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In "Yeltsin", Harvard professor and Soviet expert Timothy J. Colton traces the life and struggles of Russia's first popularly elected president, Boris Yeltsin: a man who rose from agrarian roots to forge a new destiny for Russia, and whose attempt at bringing democracy to his countrymen remains one of the great, unfinished stories of our time. When former Communist party member Yeltsin became Russia's first president in 1991 following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the country's future looked bright. A spirit of openness dominated Russian politics, and Yeltsin rode this tide of optimism as he embarked on a sweeping makeover of the newly democratic system. The peasant-turned-politician used his intuitive judgment, grace under fire, and deep understanding of the nature of power to push his country forward with blinding speed. This progress, however, was slowed and distorted by Yeltsin's troubled psychology, personal social weaknesses, and the unforeseen consequences of world events.Colton makes use of unprecedented interviews with Yeltsin himself, as well as with numerous key participants in the story and newly declassified documents from Soviet archives, to demonstrate why and how Yeltsin broke with single-party rule and launched his drive to replace it with democracy, and how his attempts foundered. Today, with Russia firmly under the control of Vladimir Putin and his hand-picked successor, Dmitry Medvedev, the country seems to have reversed course entirely, abandoning Yeltsin's democratic vision. As Colton shows, however, Russia's trajectory cannot be understood without first confronting the man who led it out of the Cold War and into the modern age. A penetrating study by one of our foremost experts on Russian politics, "Yeltsin" provides a refreshing portrait of one of the principal actors of the post-Soviet era: the controversial leader who buried the Soviet Union and birthed its troubled heir.