cover image The Decline and Fall of the Soviet Empire: Forty Years That Shook the World, from Stalin to Yeltsin

The Decline and Fall of the Soviet Empire: Forty Years That Shook the World, from Stalin to Yeltsin

Fred Coleman. St. Martin's Press, $27.95 (459pp) ISBN 978-0-312-14312-1

Coleman, U.S. News & World Report Paris bureau chief, reported from Moscow from 1964 to 1995, covering most major events in the Soviet Union, from the ouster of Khrushchev to Yeltsin's introduction of market reforms. He presents here an almost encyclopedic, highly readable review of Soviet history as written by a journalist who met over the years with both ordinary folk and numerous notables, including physicist and human rights activist Andrei Sakharov, Gorbachev and Yeltsin. Arguing that Soviet communism was doomed by its own internal weaknesses, Coleman asserts that the empire was never as powerful as the West thought, and that the U.S. could have hastened its demise had we been more astute in watching for cracks in the armor. He also warns against the resurgence of a revitalized KGB, if not now, then under a future authoritarian regime. Although at times readers may unavoidably sense that Coleman is writing with the advantage of hindsight, he marshals his evidence to make a convincing case. The subtitle is a takeoff of John Reed's classic account of the Russian Revolution, Ten Days That Shook the World. Photos not seen by PW. (June)