Moscow, December 25, 1991

Jan 20, 2025 9:13 PM

Author:Conor O'Clery

History always comes down to the details. And when it comes to the fall of the Soviet Union, the details are crucial, especially when such an era-defining event hinged on the bitter personal relationship between two powerful men, Mikhail Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin.

On the twentieth anniversary of the end of the Cold War, Conor O'Clery has built his compelling and brilliantly constructed narrative of the fall of the Soviet Union around one day, December 25, 1991, the date Gorbachev resigned and the USSR was effectively consigned to history. From there, O'Clery looks back over the events of the previous six years: Gorbachev's reform policies of glasnost and perestroika; Yeltsin's ignominious fall and then rise to the top; the defiance of the once docile Soviet republics; the failed August coup by the hardliners; and the events that swiftly followed until a secret meeting in a central European forest sealed the fate of the communist monolith and the clock ticked down to the last day.

The result is an intricately detailed, thoroughly researched book, based on interviews with many of the key figures in a drama of Shakespearean intensity as well as contemporary reportage, the memoirs and diaries of key political figures and official documents. The book is written at a breathtaking, dramatic pace, drawing the reader in as it focuses equally on the personal and historical stories.

Moscow, December 25, 1991 is set to become a defining book on the fall of the Soviet Union.

Reviews

Conor O'Clery's book is a tour de force. It tells the story of one of the most momentous days of recent history with insight, passion and precision. Full of new material and fascinating stories, it is a must read for anyone interested in the fate of democracy in the modern world

—— Martin Sixsmith

Grips you from first to last

—— John Murray , Irish Independent

Elegantly written... a superb storyteller

—— Victor Sebestyen , The Sunday Times

A clear and exciting account of these momentous times, written by... one of the great reporters of our age

—— Peter Hitchens , Daily Mail

A riveting read... rich in humour and humanity and replete with assured judgments

—— Judith Devlin , The Irish Times

Excellent new history of Italian Fascism

—— Ian Thomson , Financial Times

An elegantly written study that is the work of a historian at the height of his powers

—— History Today

Fluid and absorbing

—— Times Literary Supplement

Draws on a vast range of private letters and diaries to find out what ordinary people thought about the regime that ruled them between 1922 and 1945

—— Christopher Silvester , Daily Express

Draws on a vast range of private letters and diaries

—— Christopher Silvester , Scottish Sunday Express

Pankaj Mishra has produced a riveting account that makes new and illuminating connections. He follows the intellectual trail of this contested history with both intelligence and moral clarity. In the end we realise that what we are holding in our hands is not only a deeply entertaining and deeply humane book, but a balance sheet of the nature and mentality of colonisation

—— Hisham Matar

Highly readable and illuminating ... Mishra's analysis of Muslim reactions is particularly topical

—— David Goodall , Tablet

Enormously ambitious but thoroughly readable, this book is essential reading for everyone who is interested in the processes of change that have led to the emergence of today's Asia

—— Amitav Ghosh , Wall Street Journal

Sophisticated ... not so much polemic as cri de coeur, motivated by Mishra's keen sense of the world, East and West, hurtling towards its own destruction

—— Tehelka, New Delhi

Outstanding ... Mishra wears his scholarship lightly and weaves together the many strands of history into a gripping narrative ... The insights afforded by this book are too many to be enumerated ... Mishra performs a signal service to the future - by making us read the past in a fresh light

—— The Hindu, New Delhi

[Full of] complexity and nuance

—— Mail Today

Subtle, erudite and entertaining

—— Financial Express

Mishra allows the reader to see the events of two centuries anew, through the eyes of the journalists, poets, radicals and charismatics who criss-crossed Europe and Asia

—— Free Press Journal

A vital, nuanced argument ... prodigious

—— Mint

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