Collapse of an Empire: Lessons for Modern Russia
"Yegor Gaidar has written an outstanding book of great importance. With extraordinary erudition, he warns Russia against following the course of Nazi Germany, focusing on the double trap of post-imperial hangover and the oil curse. Professor Gaidar also shows how profound and manifold the Soviet collapse of 1991 really was." —Anders Åslund,Senior Fellow, Peterson Institute for International Economics"Yegor Gaidar, a hero of Russian reform, has provided a courageous and clear-headed wakeup call for his own people and the world. He argues persuasively that today's Kremlin leaders are heading down the same economic path that led their Communist predecessors to disaster. Combining personal experience, deep analysis and a rare grasp of facts —including from previously classified documents —Gaidar has produced a book of insight and importance. It is must-reading for anyone trying to comprehend what really happened to the Soviet Union, why its system was inherently instable, and why nostalgia for the 'days of empire' —fashionable at the highest levels in Russia today —is wrongheaded and dangerous." —George Soros"Yegor Gaidar will be known to history as the architect of Russia's transition to a market economy. But here he shows his other side, as a brilliant economist and historian presenting a compelling explanation of the Soviet Union's collapse: its financial bankruptcy." —Andrei Shleifer, Harvard University, author of A Normal Country: Russia after Communism"Gaidar has produced a book of insight and importance. It is must reading for anyone trying to comprehend what really happened to the Soviet Union, why its system was inherently instable, and why nostalgia for the 'days of empire'--fashionable at the highest levels in Russia today--is wrongheaded and dangerous." —Educational Book Review"I heartily recommend that you read his excellent book." —Streetwise Professor blog, 12/18/2007"The author's analysis of the fate of the USSR is as compelling as it is lucid." —Tomas Hirst,Fund Strategy"Collapse of an Empireis a warning to today's Russian leaders to avoid the disastrous mistakes of their Soviet predecessors." —Stefan Wagstyl,Financial Times"Collapse of an Empireis about the disintegration of the USSR. It is one of the best accounts we have, and is likely to be referred to for a long time." —Philip Hanson, Chatham House,The Russian Review"Gaidar wonders whether Russia's political and economic institutions will prove flexible enough to cope with another balance-of-payment crisis. If not, Russia may yet meet an end similar to the Soviet Union's. And on this critical point, Gaidar--no Cassandra, but rather a sober analyst of the half-baked illiberal democracy that is Russia today--has written a book far more instructive than most of the Western media's mass-produced anti-Putin pamphlets." —Guy Sorman,City Journal