Moscow, December 25, 1991 : the last day of the Soviet Union : O'Clery, Conor : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive (original) (raw)

xxi, 316 pages, [12] pages of plates : 25 cm

The implosion of the Soviet Union was the culmination of a gripping game played out between two men who intensely disliked each other and had different concepts for the future. Mikhail Gorbachev, a sophisticated and urbane reformer, sought to modernize and preserve the USSR; Boris Yeltsin, a coarse and a hard drinking "bulldozer," wished to destroy the union and create a capitalist Russia. The defeat of the August 1991 coup attempt by hardline communists shook Gorbachev's authority and was a triumph for Yeltsin. But it took four months of intrigue and double-dealing before Yeltsin could hustle Gorbachev out of the Kremlin. Conor O'Clery has written a truly suspenseful thriller of the Cold War's final act: the internal power plays, the shifting alliances, the betrayals, the mysterious three colonels carrying the briefcase with the nuclear codes, and the jockeying to exploit the future.--From publisher description

Russian/Soviet dramatis personae -- Preface -- Introduction -- December 25 : Before the dawn -- December 25 : Sunrise -- Hiring the bulldozer -- December 25 : Morning -- The storming of Moscow -- December 25 : Midmorning -- A bucket full of filth -- December 25 : Late morning -- Back from the dead -- December 25 : Midday -- Knee deep in kerosene -- December 25 : Early afternoon -- Dictatorship on the offensive -- December 25 : Midafternoon -- Hijacking Barbara Bush -- December 25 : Late afternoon -- Perfidiousness, lawlessness, and infamy -- December 25 : Dusk -- Things fall apart -- December 25 : Early evening -- The center cannot hold -- December 25 : Evening -- The deal in the Walnut Room -- December 25 : Late evening -- December 25 : Night -- December 25 : Late night -- December 26 : The day after -- December 27 : Triumph of the plunderers -- The integrity of the quarrel

Includes bibliographical references and index