Kotkin argues the USSR was dismantled by communist idealists. He highlights the problems of using the party to reform itself.

This book has been on my "to read" list for a little while. Because I had studied business in Russia in 1997, I had an interest in understanding the broader context for that little slice of the Soviet/Russian story that I had taken part in.

To be honest, I didn't really absorb most of this book, and my rating is probably unfair. If you are thinking about reading it, I would recommend that you have a pretty strong base in recent Soviet/Russian history - and a reasonable understanding of basic economic principles. I'm a bit shaky on both - and I was mostly lost. Sadly, I have to admit that I need to dig a whole lot deeper into this topic in order to make sense of it.

Kotkin's treatment of the fall of the Soviet Union is a breath of fresh air for this reader as it contains no over-dramatizatized narrative of SDI or belligerent foreign policy. The Union fell from "reform" and an attempt to revert the Communist system back to a purer Leninist vision. Unfortunately, the partial attempts at democratization and market systems brought whole thing down brick by brick. Kotkin points to Gorbachev's polices as the main culprit which is also refreshing. Gorbachev is not portrayed as one seeking a westernized version of the Soviet Union. He was doing what he thought best to preserve and improve Soviet socialism.

This is also a great rally cry for the preservation of market economies governed by effective and strong rule of law based systems whose checks and balances are democratically ordained. Very powerful read in 2018.

Great depth on the multitudes of factors that led to the unexpected collapse of the Soviet Union. Gorbachev was a much greater statesman than I realize, however overshadowed by the disintegration he oversaw. One important takeaway from the book is the multitudes of ways in which the collapse could have ended up in an even bigger disaster. In the face of today's Russian nationalist revival and aggressive assertion of power, one is left wondering if there was any other better pathways possible.

What a read! This gem was left behind in the office by our great intern, Timur aka Tim — he comes from Russia and had a real passion for finding good books (he was a subscriber to The New York Review of Books) and opened my eyes to the world of opera.

Thorough but tightly written, hums along and all of the chaotic details from this era are presented with ease. No dry spells or tangents - can only hope to read more history books that are this focused.

“The modern world is not a democracy of nations but a hierarchy". Amen, brother.

Armageddon Averted by Stephen Kotkin is a concise yet profound examination of the factors leading to the unexpected collapse of the Soviet Union. Kotkin’s analysis stands out for its clarity and depth, offering readers a balanced view of the internal and external forces that brought an end to one of the 20th century's most powerful regimes.

The book is particularly notable for its focus on the human element—how the actions (and inactions) of key Soviet leaders, combined with the structural weaknesses of the system, contributed to its unraveling. Kotkin’s ability to distill complex political and economic dynamics into an engaging narrative makes this work both accessible and thought-provoking.

While its brevity might leave readers wishing for more detail in some areas, it also ensures that the book remains focused and impactful. For anyone interested in the Cold War, Russian history, or the mechanics of state collapse, Armageddon Averted is an essential and enlightening read.

Kotkin treats the fall of the Soviet Union as a genuine civilizational collapse, perhaps more akin to the fall of the Roman empire than a typical modern revolution leading merely from one form of government to another. Kotkin thinks this collapse explains why the aftermath of the Cold War was so unsatisfying for all parties involved, and why Russia itself unraveled so definitively after 1991.

There are many sketches and anecdotes here, but the most interesting portrait by far is of Mikhail Gorbachev. While often portrayed as a steady reformer committed to a gradual transition to democracy and capitalism, Kotkin shows him to be the last of the true believers in socialism. Gorbachev did roundly repudiated Stalin and Brezhnev, but only to harken back to idealized images Lenin and Khrushchev and their putatively kinder brand of socialism. He believed right up to the end that glasnost was only reviving the older tradition of democratic soviets and that socialism's economy could be reformed through increased decentralization and task force studies of efficiency. (There were actually no real market reforms under Gorbachev, just a movement to give old functionaries some control over their factories and operations. His attempts to roll back military production actually cost the state money since this was its biggest export.) The spiraling consequences of his reforms came as a continual surprise to him and his allies. For instance, Gorbachev's late severing of the union of party and state had the unforeseen consequence of allowing the other Socialist republics that made up the USSR to drift off, since without the unifying party there was almost no constitutional basis for unity. Gorbachev himself dreaded the end of his empire, but his reluctance to use violence (perhaps due to his early exposure to Prague in the aftermath of the 1968 summer) meant he couldn't stomach sending in the troops to hold it all together.

Surprisingly, even while republics were breaking away and people were rioting in the streets to overthrow the system, he and his chief ideologue Alexander Yakovlev continued to believe that the main danger to his reforms came from "conservative" (read, traditional communist) reactionaries. He orchestrated an elaborate campaign against Yegor Ligachev, his former protege, to staunch this movement, even as his government was falling apart from "liberal" attacks from the outside.

In the end, Gorbachev proved a master strategist at implementing his reforms but woefully short-sighting about their effect. The result was something neither he nor anyone in his coterie would have wanted. The Russian people then suffered from both the lingering effects of communism and the disorganized way in which it unraveled. It still has not recovered.

Great book for dorks like me!

Superb and exciting

Prof. Kotkin is a national treasure.

This short account of the fall of the Soviet Union moves at a fast pace, while providing depth and insights.

Breathtaking. Should be read by anyone with an interest in modern world history. The book is also valuable as background and prelude to the current war in Ukraine.

This is a fun book about the collapse of the Soviet Union. Its main argument is arguing against some conventional wisdom. Kotkin argues that although the Soviet Union had serious problems in 1985, it was not collapsing. It was Perestroika and Glasnost that caused the collapse. He also argues that the collapse did not end in 1991, but continued until 2000 when Putin took over.

Kotkin believes that the Soviet system was fatally flawed because it promised so much but had the capacity to deliver little, so it overstretched to make up the difference. But, he argues, it could have continued like that for a very long time. In 1985, although the Soviet economy (and military) were shockingly weak, people were accepting of it and the Communist Party was in control. Had conservatives come to power at the point, they might have retrenched, but Gorbachev was a socialist romantic who wanted to make the promise a workers paradise come true. So he tried to reform and unreformable system. Economic reform was a disaster because it was a half measure and still maintain state planning. Glasnost was even worse because it let (or encouraged) people to discuss the shortcomings of socialism and the party. These two programs were meant to revitalize the USSR to help it live up to its promises, but instead led to its demise.

As the title suggests, Kotkin is still wondering why the Soviet elites let the country collapse without and attempted crackdown. He speculates on actions the party could have taken, even up to nuclear blackmail, to stay in power. Instead, the Soviet Union went down with a whimper.

Kotkin looks at the 1990s as a continuation of the collapse because the transformation of Russia was hampered by Soviet infrastructure and institutions. Yeltsin was not up to the task (Kotkin basically mocks him as a populist who could endear himself to a crowd but had no idea how to govern) and even had a better leader emerged, the structure of the country would have undermined central control.

Kotkin uses China as an counterexample for how to transition from socialism to the market economy while still keeping the Communist Party in control. He blames a lack of crackdowns from Gorbachev on the actual collapse, whereas Deng Xiaoping was more than willing to use force to maintain control, even at the expense of international reputation or economic growth.

Putin entering the stage changed the game as he took over the economy and focused on growing Russian businesses, while also bring control back to Moscow. Kotkin sort of makes him the hero of the piece (almost everyone else he discusses seems incompetent). The first edition stopped in 2000, but Kotkin wrote an epilogue going to 2008, where he credits Putin with turning the Russian economy around. It would interesting to find out what he thinks of Putin now.

The book is very easy to read. Kotkin treats it more like a speech, with small asides and entertaining quotes to prove his points. It is a quick read and worth it. I found it convincing, although I will want to check a few of his argument against other sources.

An intersting premise, which fails to deliver.

This is less a history book regarding the USSR's collapse and more a long op-ed on the subject of Russia's politics from 1985 to 2008. And ironically, while the author mocks Western sovietologists for not understanding the USSR, the book's final chapters (which present Medvedev's presidency as a promise to the future and as a proof of Putin stepping down fron power) prove him to be guilty of the same sin.

If you are looking for a book to explain the current Russian imbroglio, then this is not the book for you. It is a very focused look at the collapse of the Soviet Union between the years 1970-2000. However, reading this book will give you an insight into the mindset that plagues the Russian people and the Russian government with Putin at its apex.

Dr. Kotkin is a superb historian of Russia, especially the Communist era. In this excellent book he traces the dissolution of the Soviets through the vehicle of Gorbachev. While Gorbachev was a true believer and did not want the dissolution of the Soviet Union, his actions destabilized an already dangerously creaky governmental system and an already flaccid economy.

This book shines in explaining the ins and outs of the political and economic machinations that occurred to topple the Communist dictatorships that plagued humanity in the Eastern European nations and Russia itself. Kotkin shows how the political moves and the economic realities of the 70s and 80s led to Gorbachev's reforms and how those reforms led to the destruction of the Communists.

Yet the book also points out one of the terrible mistakes (though it could be argued it was an impossibility due to military considerations) perpetrated by Western Society was in not having War Crimes trials against the Communist Party, as well as Crimes against humanity. Only by putting these monsters to death or life in prison (a' la Nuremberg trials for the Nazis) and shaming this nefarious ideology could Russia (and many foolish peoples around the world who embraced this murderous ideology and failed economic system) have freed itself from the shackles of the Communist mind virus. Hence, while the Soviet system went away, the party members, the Army, the KGB, and all of the criminal government were still there with a name change. Putin, himself, is former KGB. It is this stupidity that puts us in the situation we are in today.

A fascinating book and one well worth reading. It's a great look, in detail, at the Soviet collapse.