From acclaimed historian and author of Kremlin Winter and Blood on the Snow, a dramatic and expertly researched account of an extraordinary moment in Russia’s recent history: the August Coup.In the summer of 1991, a group of eight plotters came together to overthrow Mikhail Gorbachëv, then the president of the USSR. These ruthless conspirators, who occupied positions of high office, declared a state of emergency to restore stability through author...

'Lively and insightful' – The Times'Magnificent' – The Guardian'A masterly piece of scholarship, written like a political thriller' – The Irish Times‘Superb . . . A work of quite exceptional scholarship and narrative verve’ – Literary Review‘A must-read for those fascinated by the decline and fall of the USSR’ – Mark Galeotti'Immensely well-researched and compellingly written . . . grips the rea...

**The acclaimed biography of Joseph Stalin from Robert Service, world-leading expert in modern and Soviet era Russia.'Outstanding . . . will be read for decades' – Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar**Spanning from childhood to death, Service chronicles every element of Stalin’s life: his formative interactions in Georgia, his youthful revolutionary activism, his relationship with Lenin, with his family, and with his party members. S...

Robert Service's The Penguin History of Modern Russia: From Tsarism to the Twenty-first Century provides a superb panorama of Russia in the modern age.Russia's recent past has encompassed revolution, civil war, mass terror and two world wars, and the country is still undergoing huge change.In his acclaimed history, now revised and updated with a new introduction and final chapter, Robert Service explores the complex, changing interaction between ru...

**A critically acclaimed portrait of Vladimir Lenin, from one of the finest scholars of modern and Soviet era Russia.'This book deserves a place among the best studies of one of the most fascinating figures in modern history' – Harold Shukman, The Times**A colossal figure whose influence on twentieth-century history cannot be underestimated, Lenin’s full story remains somewhat unknown. Drawing on previously unopened archives, Robert Service pieces together public a...

**An acclaimed examination of the latter years of the Cold War, from one of the finest historians of modern Russia.‘Absorbingly written . . . this book is destined to become a classic of Cold War historical literature’ – International Affairs**After decades of struggles between the USSR and the US over every aspect of security, economics and ideas, the Cold War had seemed like a permanent fixture in global politics. No Western or Soviet politician foresaw that the ...

A comprehensive overview of twentieth-century Russian history that treats the years from 1917 to 2000 as a single period and analyses the peculiar mixture of political, economic and social ingredients that made up the Soviet compound. It takes the reader from the age of communist rule to the changes that occurred in 1991 and the more uncertain world of Yeltsin and Putin.

A masterful and forensic study of the last year of Nicholas II’s reign, from a world-leading scholar of Russian history.‘Outstanding . . . essential reading’ – Simon Sebag Montefiore, The Mail on SundayIn March 1917, Nicholas II, the last Tsar of All the Russias, abdicated and the dynasty that had ruled an empire for three hundred years was forced from power by revolution. Robert Service examines the last year of Nicholas's reign a...

**Winner of the Duff Cooper Prize, an acclaimed portrait of Leon Trotsky from one of the finest scholars of modern and Soviet era Russia.‘An outstanding, fascinating biography of this dazzling titan’ – Simon Sebag Montefiore, The Daily Telegraph**Trotsky lived a brilliant life in extraordinary times. A pioneering radical politician, theorist, and icon of the Russian Revolution, he is commonly portrayed by his followers as a pure revolutionary soul and powerful inte...

**An acclaimed examination of the global history of communism, from one of the finest historians of modern Russia.‘One of the best-ever studies of the subject . . . a remarkable accomplishment.’ – The Economist**Decades after the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and the USSR, Robert Service sets out to trace its origins, tracking its spread across the globe throughout the twentieth century. From the USSR to Yugoslavia, Cuba to Western Europe, he chronicles t...

According to Wikipedia: "Robert William Service (January 16, 1874 September 11, 1958) was a poet and writer, sometimes referred to as "the Bard of the Yukon".[1][2] He is best-known for his writings on the Canadian North, including the poems "The Shooting of Dan McGrew", "The Law of the Yukon", and "The Cremation of Sam McGee". His writing was so expressive that his readers took him for a hard-bitten old Klondike prospector, not the later-arriving bank clerk he actually was. In addition to...

According to Wikipedia: "Robert William Service (January 16, 1874 September 11, 1958) was a poet and writer, sometimes referred to as "the Bard of the Yukon".[1][2] He is best-known for his writings on the Canadian North, including the poems "The Shooting of Dan McGrew", "The Law of the Yukon", and "The Cremation of Sam McGee". His writing was so expressive that his readers took him for a hard-bitten old Klondike prospector, not the later-arriving bank clerk he actually was. In addition to...