The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Empire (Studies in Contemporary History)

by Raymond Pearson

Release Date: December, 1997

Edition: Paperback

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Quick and Informative History of the Soviet Empire 1945-1991

This book actually is about two empires -- the "Inner Empire" of the Soviet Union and the "Outer Empire" of the Soviet Bloc. The book is exceedingly well written and hard to put down. Though it ignores broad swaths of Soviet history (military confrontation with the west, relationship with China, etc), it admits that it doesn't tell all, and, more importantly, tells what it does very clearly.

The crisises of 1956, 1968, and 1980 are examined in detail, and throughout humor is used to get the point across (such at the Kiti-Kat fiasco, and contemporary Soviet and Eastern European jokes about the regime).