Yeltsin: A LifeEven after his death in April 2007, Boris Yeltsin remains the most controversial figure in recent Russian history. Although Mikhail Gorbachev presided over the decline of the Communist party and the withdrawal of Soviet control over eastern Europe, it was Yeltsin-Russia's first elected president-who buried the Soviet Union itself. Upon taking office, Yeltsin quickly embarked on a sweeping makeover of newly democratic Russia, beginning with a program of excruciatingly painful market reforms that earned him wide acclaim in the West and deep recrimination from many Russian citizens. In this, the first biography of Yeltsin's entire life, Soviet scholar Timothy Colton traces Yeltsin's development from a peasant boy in the Urals to a Communist party apparatchik, and then ultimately to a nemesis of the Soviet order. Based on unprecedented interviews with Yeltsin himself as well as scores of other Soviet officials, journalists, and businessmen, Colton explains how and why Yeltsin broke with single-party rule and launched his drive to replace it with democracy. Yeltsin's colossal attempt to bring democracy to Russia remains one of the great, unfinished stories of our time. As anti-Western policies and rhetoric resurface in Putin's increasingly bellicose Russia, Yeltsin offers essential insights into the past, present, and future of this vast and troubled nation. |
Contents
CHAPTER THREE Only Forward | |
CHAPTER FOUR A Boss with a Difference | |
CHAPTER FIVE Megalopolis | |
CHAPTER SIX The Mutineer | |
CHAPTER SEVEN The Yeltsin Phenomenon | |
CHAPTER TEN Resistances | |
CHAPTER ELEVEN Falling Apart Holding Together | |
CHAPTER TWELVE Boris Agonistes | |
CHAPTER THIRTEEN Governing the State | |
CHAPTER FOURTEEN Reconnecting | |
CHAPTER FIFTEEN Autumn of a President | |
CHAPTER SIXTEEN Endgame | |
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN Aftermath | |
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Aleksandr Korzhakov Anatolii Andrei April asked August author September Baturin Berezniki Berezovskii Boris Nemtsov Boris Nikolayevich Boris Yeltsin Brezhnev Butka campaign Central Committee Chechnya Chernomyrdin Chubais Communist Party congress CPSU dacha December decree democratic deputy premier Duma Dyachenko economic election Epokha February federal Fëdorov Gorbachev head House Ispoved Ivan Izvestiya July June Kazan Khasbulatov Kiriyenko Klavdiya Kremlin leader Lenin Ligachëv Marafon March meeting memoirs Mikhail Moscow Naina Yeltsina Nemtsov Nikolai November obkom oblast October Oleg Oleg Lobov parliament People’s percent plenum Politburo political postcommunist postSoviet president prezidenta Primakov prime minister Putin reform republics RSFSR Russian Rutskoi Ryabov Ryzhkov second interview secretary Sergei Soskovets Soviet Union speech Stalin Supreme Soviet Sverdlovsk Tatyana Tatyana Dyachenko television took Tret’yakov tsar University Press Urals USSR VAGRIUS Valentin Yumashev Viktor Viktor Chernomyrdin Viktor Ilyushin Vitalii Vladimir vote Yegor Gaidar Yekaterinburg Yevgenii Yurii Zapiski Zyuganov