Armageddon Averted: The Soviet Collapse, 1970-2000: The Soviet Collapse Since 1970
Legal History Blog (Free subscription) | 08/11/2009
Borrowing from Ralph Luker this weekend: Carlin Romano, "Perspectives on the fall of the Berlin Wall," LA Times, 8 November, reviews Stephen Kotkin's Uncivil Society: 1989 and the Implosion of the Communist Establishment, Michael Meyer's The Year That Changed the World: The Untold Story Behind the Fall of the Berlin Wall, Constantine Pleshakov's There Is No Freedom Without Bread!:...
Edward Lucas (Free subscription) | 08/11/2009
The fall of Communism Wall stories Nov 5th 2009 From The Economist print edition How communism in eastern Europe collapsed, and what came next. Scholars and journalists give their account Uncivil Society: 1989 and the Implosion of the Communist Establishment . By Stephen Kotkin. Modern Library; 197 pages; $24. Buy from Amazon.com 1989: The Berlin Wall: My Part in its Downfall . By Peter...
The Economist (Free subscription) | 05/11/2009
How communism in eastern Europe collapsed, and what came next. Scholars and journalists give their account Uncivil Society: 1989 and the Implosion of the Communist Establishment. By Stephen Kotkin. Modern Library; 197 pages; $24. Buy from Amazon.com 1989: The Berlin Wall: My Part in its Downfall. By Peter Millar. Arcadia; 220 pages; GBP11.99. To be published in America by Arcadia in...
Open Democracy (Free subscription) | 02/11/2009
... It was clear to some of us that the ruling elites - those bureaucracies that Princeton historian Stephen Kotkin calls the uncivil societies - had lost the indispensable self-confidence linked to their ideological commitment (see Stephen Kotkin (plus contribution by Jan T Gross, Uncivil Society: 1989 and the Implosion of the Communist Establishment [Random House, 2009])....
3quarksdaily (Free subscription) | 07/11/2009
... explanation. Another tack is the "if you knew what I know" analysis offered in Princeton historian Stephen Kotkin's "Uncivil Society: 1989 and the Implosion of the Communist Establishment," which frames the story as badly told rather than untold: a fantasy of people power sweeping Europe that's better dissected nation-by-nation, with insight into doomed governments and failed systems....
BMI Headlines (Free subscription) | 03/11/2009
Almost 20 years ago, the Berlin Wall fell symbolizing the collapse of communism in Europe, but one Washington Post book reviewer put a very different spin on that historical day.In , Gerard DeGroot, a professor of history at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, wrote a review of three books about the fall of communism: by Romesh Ratnesar, by Stephen Kotkin and by Constantine Pleshakov.DeGroot...
The Real Barack Obama (Free subscription) | 19/10/2009
I learned last evening from Woodrow Wilson Professor Stephen Kotkin that uncivil society (police states with elite party members such as the IRGC) collapse from the top, not the bottom. The protesters in Tehran opposing the usurper Ahmadinejad are not as threatening to the Twelvers as IRGC rage and revenge and cowardice and paranoia. Then again, even paranoids have enemies.
3quarksdaily (Free subscription) | 19/10/2009
... György Dalos, Michael Meyer, and Michel Meyer), spirited essays in historical interpretation (Stephen Kotkin and Constantine Pleshakov), and original scholarly work drawing on archival sources as well as oral history (Mary Elise Sarotte and the volume edited by Jeffrey Engel). I cannot review them individually. Most add something to our knowledge; some add quite a lot. It is no criticism...
