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A review by vesb12
The Last Empire: The Final Days of the Soviet Union by Serhii Plokhy
5.0
A well-written account of the final days (or months) of the Soviet Union, accounting for its collapse by the culmination of nationalist movements and power struggles, especially after the August Coup.
Plokhy uses the recently declassified documents/ records of conversations between key players in the US, Soviet Union, and republic leaders. There is a superb level of detail and contextualisation of the documents.
Because this is not written chronologically (Plokhy returns to conversations or earlier dates), the reader has to be constantly aware of what happened when, since many conversations and decisive events happen within the course of days/ weeks/ months. For this, it might have been useful to include a timeline of events.
Plokhy uses the recently declassified documents/ records of conversations between key players in the US, Soviet Union, and republic leaders. There is a superb level of detail and contextualisation of the documents.
Because this is not written chronologically (Plokhy returns to conversations or earlier dates), the reader has to be constantly aware of what happened when, since many conversations and decisive events happen within the course of days/ weeks/ months. For this, it might have been useful to include a timeline of events.