(Paperback)

Perhaps because many Sovietologists neglected its status as an empire, most Americans were taken completely by surprise when the USSR began its precipitous collapse under Mikhail Gorbachev.

This book subjects the Soviet Union as an empire to systematic scrutiny, using tools and methods at the disposal of modern political science.

(Hardback)

The book is also recommended for undergraduate and graduate courses in Russian and Soviet history and the study of empires.

This book subjects the Soviet Union as an empire to systematic scrutiny, using tools and methods at the disposal of modern political science.