Written to accompany a BBC television series of the same name, this book offers a political history of perestroika. The author uses interviews with senior Soviet politicians to outline how Mikhail Gorbachev and his allies are attempting to transform the USSR from totalitarianism to democracy.

The second Russian Revolution: The struggle for power in the Kremlin

Politics & Social Sciences

Roxburgh, Angus

Politics & Government

BBC Books

Vladimir Putin has turned Russia from fledgling democracy into a police state, and in 2020 a constitutional change gave him the means to stay in power until 2036. In this acclaimed political biography, former BBC Moscow correspondent Angus Roxburgh charts the dramatic fight for Russia's future under Putin. Roxburgh shows how the former KGB man evolved from reformer to autocrat, how he sought the West's respect but earned its fear and contempt.\nDrawing on dozens of exclusive interviews in Russia, where he worked for a time as a Kremlin insider advising Putin on press relations, as well as in the US and Europe, Roxburgh also argues that the West threw away chances to bring Russia in from the cold, by failing to understand its fears and aspirations following the collapse of communism. This updated edition includes new chapters on Putin and Donald Trump, on Russia's wars in Ukraine and Syria, and on Putin's ruthless attempt to rout all political opposition.

The Strongman: Vladimir Putin and the Struggle for Russia

Biographies & Memoirs

Leaders & Notable People

I.B.Tauris

Describes the history and production of the Soviet newspaper, Pravda, and examines the influence of the newspaper on Soviet life

Pravda: Inside the Soviet News Machine (English and Russian Edition)

George Braziller

Not since the Bolsheviks overthrew the Czar in 1917 has the country once known as the Soviet Union seen such revolutionary changes. The Communist Party has been swept out of power, very little remains of the Soviet-backed system that once dominated Eastern Europe, and the Soviet Union itself has disintegrated into a loose federation of republics. It was a revolution that began the day aging Soviet leader Konstantin Chernenko died, clearing the way for Mikhail Gorbachev to take control. Through hundreds of interviews with top Soviet officials, Angus Roxburgh has pieced together an unprecedented, behind-the-scenes account of the Gorbachev years. For the first time, every key figure involved--from Boris Yeltsin to former prime minister Nikolai Ryzhkov, as well as every other top official, reformer and hard-liner alike--tell of the conspiracies, backroom dealings, and political infighting surrounding Gorbachev's rise to power and his attempts to reform the country. Their reflections are surprisingly candid and provide much new detail on this crucial period in history. Here are details and events never before revealed outside the Politburo: how, as early as 1983, the dying Soviet leader Yuri Andropov had actually chosen Gorbachev to succeed him, but then Brezhnev's old cronies conspired to get Chernenko elected instead; details of how, on the night of March 10, 1985, Gorbachev came to be selected as leader; how hard-line deputy Yegor Ligachev, backed by the Communist Party, repeatedly tried to sabotage perestroika; how maverick Boris Yeltsin became the thorn in Gorbachev's side, and how, backed by the people, he began to emerge on top of Gorbachev; and how and why the attempted coup of August 1991 came about.

The Second Russian Revolution: The Struggle for Power in the Kremlin

History

Russia

Pharos Books

In the course of the past 45 years, Angus Roxburgh has translated Tolstoy, met four successive Russian presidents and been jinxed by a Siberian shaman. He has come under fire in war zones and been arrested by Chechen thugs. During the Cold War he was wooed by the KGB, who then decided he would make a lousy spy and expelled him from the country. In Moscow Calling Roxburgh presents his Russia – not the Russia of news reports, but a quirky, crazy, exasperating, beautiful, tumultuous world that in four decades has changed completely, and yet in some ways not at all. From the dark, fearful days of communism and his adventures as a correspondent covering the Soviet Union’s collapse into chaos, to his frustrating work as a media consultant to Putin’s Kremlin, his memoir offers a unique, fascinating and at times hilarious insight into a country that today, more than ever, is of global political significance.

Moscow Calling: Memoirs of a Foreign Correspondent

Arts & Literature

Birlinn

In the course of the past 45 years, Angus Roxburgh has translated Tolstoy, met four successive Russian presidents and been jinxed by a Siberian shaman. He has come under fire in war zones and been arrested by Chechen thugs. During the Cold War he was wooed by the KGB, who then decided he would make a lousy spy and expelled him from the country. In Moscow Calling Roxburgh presents his Russia – not the Russia of news reports, but a quirky, crazy, exasperating, beautiful, tumultuous world that in four decades has changed completely, and yet in some ways not at all. From the dark, fearful days of communism and his adventures as a correspondent covering the Soviet Union’s collapse into chaos, to his frustrating work as a media consultant to Putin’s Kremlin, his memoir offers a unique, fascinating and at times hilarious insight into a country that today, more than ever, is of global political significance.

Religion & Spirituality

In a career spanning forty years, Angus Roxburgh lived and worked in Russia as a literary translator, as Moscow correspondent of the Sunday Times and the BBC, and as a media consultant to the Kremlin. He witnessed Russian history unfolding at first hand - from the darkest days of communism and the Cold War, through the exhilaration of Gorbachev's perestroika reforms and the chaos of Yeltsin's rebuilding of capitalism, to the authoritarian Russia of Putin.Moscow Calling is his story of those momentous years. Part history, part travelogue, it takes the reader from the muddy suburbs of communist Moscow to the corridors of Putin's Kremlin, from the Baltic to Siberia, from artists' studios to the war-zone of Chechnya. Written with passion and humour, and a deep knowledge of the experiences and concerns of ordinary Russians, it is the essential background for understanding Russia today.

Russia under Vladimir Putin has proved a prickly partner for the West, a far cry from the democratic ally many hoped for when the Soviet Union collapsed. Abroad, Putin has used Russia’s energy strength as a foreign policy weapon, while at home he has cracked down on opponents, adamant that only he has the right vision for his country’s future. 
Former BBC Moscow correspondent Angus Roxburgh charts the dramatic fight for Russia’s future under Vladimir Putin—how the former KGB man changed from reformer to autocrat; how he sought the West’s respect but earned its fear; how he cracked down on his rivals at home and burnished a flamboyant personality cult, one day saving snow leopards or horseback riding bare-chested, the next tongue-lashing Western audiences. Drawing on dozens of exclusive interviews in Russia, where he worked as a Kremlin insider advising Putin on press relations, Roxburgh also argues that the West threw away chances to bring Russia in from the cold by failing to understand its fears and aspirations following the collapse of communism.

Historical

Russia under Vladimir Putin has proved a prickly partnerfor the West, a far cry from the democratic ally many hoped for when the Soviet Union collapsed. Abroad, he has used Russia's energy might as a foreign policy weapon, while at home he has cracked down on opponents, adamant that only he has the right vision for his country's future. Former BBC correspondent Angus Roxburgh charts the dramatic fight for Russia'sfuture under Vladimir Putin - how the former KGB man changed from reformer to autocrat, how he sought the West's respect but earned its fear, how he cracked down on his rivals at home and burnished a flamboyant personality cult, one day saving snow leopards or horse-back riding bare chested, the net tongue-lashing Western audiences. Drawing on dozens of exclusive interviews in Russia, where he worked for a time as a Kemlin insider advising Putin on press relations, as well as in the US and Europe, Roxburgh also argues that the West threw away chances to bring Russia in from the cold, by failing to understand its fears and aspirations following the collapse of communism.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Roxburgh, Angus. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Roxburgh, Angus

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Roxburgh, Angus. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The second Russian Revolution: The struggle for power in the Kremlin

The Strongman: Vladimir Putin and the Struggle for Russia

Pravda: Inside the Soviet News Machine (English and Russian Edition)

The Second Russian Revolution: The Struggle for Power in the Kremlin

Moscow Calling: Memoirs of a Foreign Correspondent

Moscow Calling: Memoirs of a Foreign Correspondent

Moscow Calling: Memoirs of a Foreign Correspondent

The Strongman: Vladimir Putin and the Struggle for Russia

The Strongman: Vladimir Putin and the Struggle for Russia