RUSSIA AND THE INDEPENDENT STATES

By Daniel C. Diller

Russia and the Independent States combines analysis and extensive background to place the revolution of 1991-1992 in historical context. It assesses strains and challenges within and among the former Soviet republics through the prism of the past. Part I of this richly illustrated text provides a chronological account of Russian history from its beginnings. Part II, arranged topically, addresses relations among the newly independent states, the economy, foreign policy, and relations with the united States. Part III profiles the history, geography, economy, culture, government, and politics of each of the fifteen former republics. Historical and contemporary maps, custom-drawn for this text, orient the reader. The book also contains a selected bibliography, biographies of major leaders, a chronology, and an extensive index.

The abrupt dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991-1992 will be remembered as one of the seminal events of the twentieth century, equal in importance to the Russian revolution of 1917. An empire that spanned eleven time zones and took tsars and commissars four centuries to consolidate splintered into fifteen states of the course of a breathtaking year and a half - the victim of centuries-old national identities and pervasive cynicism that undermined the communist political culture.

Congressional Quarterly Inc. (1993)