From: julie@eddie.jpl.nasa.gov (Julie Kangas)
Subject: Coup Book and Video List (updated)
Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA
Date: Fri, 4 Sep 1992 19:07:37 GMT


I've updated my list of coup books and videos.  As before, I'd 
appreciate any additions and/or comments.

One question:  Billington's book lists several interesting Russian
books on the coup.  Is there any way of getting them in the US?
Are they easily found in Russia?

Thanks,
Julie

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BOOKS
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Billington, James H., _Russia Transformed: Breakthrough to Hope, Free Press,
	By the Librarian of Congress who was in Moscow at the time
	of the coup.  Deals with the spiritual and political
	transformation of Russia after the coup.  Describes some
	events that never made it into the mass media.  Good
	list of other sources.
	
Gwertzman, Bernard and Michael T. Kaufman, _The Collapse of
Communisim", Times Books, 1991.
	Reprints of selected New York Times articles from
	February 1988 to August 1991.

Gorbachev, Mikhail, _The August Coup_ 1991, Harper Collins, 1991.
	(Or, How I Spent my Summer Vacation)
	Rather pathetic IMHO.  Glosses briefly over the coup and
	rambles on about his vision of the future. 

Loory, Stuart H. and Anne Imse, _Seven Days that Shook the World_
(CNN Reports), Turner Publishing Corporation, 1991.
	Nice pictures and description of events.

Morrison, John, _Boris Yeltsin: From Bolshevik to Democrat_,
The Penquin Group, 1991
	Primairly a biography of Yeltsin.  Looks like the coup
	came near the end of Morrison's writing, but he
	describes it well.

Pozner, Vladimir, _Eyewitness_, Random House, 1991
	Account of the coup from Pozner.

Roxburgh, Angus, _The Second Russian Revolution_, Pharos Books,1991
	The title originally refered to changes made by Gorby.
	Coup tacked on at end and occupies 1/10th of book.
	Good story of pre-coup events but rather Gorby-biased.

Smith, Hedrick, _The New Russians (updated)_, Avon Books, 1991
	Again, the coup was tacked on to the earlier addition.
	Good narrative, but the author apparently forgot to
	rewrite his _Conclusions_ chapter.

Sobchak, Anatoly, _For a New Russia_, Free Press, 1992
	Primarily a political autobiography by Sobchak.  Contains
	an epiloque (1/91) about the events in Vilnius and
	an afterward (8/91) about the coup.

Solovyov, Vladimir and Elena Klepikova, _Boris Yeltsin: A Political 
Biography_, G. P. Putnams's Sons, 1992
	Probably the best book here.  The authors were midway
	through writing a biography of Yeltsin when the coup happened
	and have meshed the two segments very well.  Not as 
	much detail on the coup as the CNN book but it has much
	more discussion about motives and intentions of the plotters.
	The authors subscribe to the Gorby-backed (or at least
	Gorby-knew-all-about-it) coup theory and make a convincing 
	case for it.  (You'll love this book if you don't like
	Gorby.)

Ulam, Adam, _The Communists, the Story of Power and Lost Illusions_,
1992
	?


VIDEOS
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_The New Russian Revolution_, CNN Special Reports
	After reading the CNN book this was a disappointment.
	Nice footage but the whole thing is glitzy and lacking
	any substance.

_The Second Russian Revolution_, BBC Television
	The Roxburgh book is a companion book to this series.  It
	started out as a 5 epsiode series about Gorby's changes.  
	It aired just after the coup with 6 episodes and it
	was obvious that the coup was hastily tacked on.  It
	was eventually re-aired with 7 (or 8?) episodes and
	was very good.  It had interesting footage of post-arrest
	interviews with Yazov and Pavlov.  The 5 episode format
	is available to schools for several hundred dollars.
	

MISC
----

Brooks, Charles (ed), _Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year: 1992 Edition_, 
Pelican Publishing Company,1992
	This is just what the title suggests.  Has a good section
	on coup-related cartoons, but the best is on the cover.
	It shows Yeltsin with his finger in the barrel of a tank.
	The tank has fired and blown itself up.  A much-worse-for-the-wear
	Yanayev is groggily sitting in the tank.  Upon closer 
	inspection you see _which_ finger Yeltsin has placed
	in the barrel.
 
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