1
of
1
The Last Empire
The Final Days of the Soviet Union
Ratings/reviews counts are updated frequently.
Check link for latest rating. ( 1,868 ratings, 207 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still
learning, it may not be perfect - your
feedback is welcome!
Summary
Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
$2799
$3799
Elsewhere:
Unit price
/
Unavailable
OVERNIGHT NZ-WIDE DELIVERY
Found a better price? Request a price match
The Last Empire
$2799
$3799
Elsewhere:
Unit price
/
Unavailable
Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?
A world-renowned historian presents a profoundly original, page-turning account of the Soviet Union’s collapse
Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and
still learning, it may not be perfect - your
feedback is welcome!
Description
BY THE AUTHOR OF CHERNOBYL: HISTORY OF A TRAGEDY, WINNER OF THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE 2018
WINNER OF THE PUSHKIN HOUSE RUSSIAN BOOK PRIZE 2015
On Christmas Day 1991, Mikhail Gorbachev resigned as president of the Soviet Union. By the next day, the USSR was officially no more, and the USA had emerged as the world’s sole superpower. Award-winning historian Serhii Plokhy presents a page-turning account of the preceding five months of drama, filled with failed coups d’état and political intrigue.
Honing in on this previously disregarded but crucial period, and using recently declassified documents and original interviews with key participants, he shatters the established myths of 1991 and presents a bold new interpretation of the Soviet Union’s final months. Plokhy argues that, contrary to the triumphalist Western narrative, George H. W. Bush desperately wanted to preserve the Soviet Union and keep Gorbachev in power, and that it was Ukraine, not the US, that played the key role in the collapse of the Soviet Union. The consequences of those five months, and the myth-making that has since surrounded them, are still being felt in Crimea, Russia, the US, and Europe today.
With its spellbinding narrative and strikingly fresh perspective, The Last Empire is the essential account of one of the most important watershed periods in world history, and is indispensable reading for anyone seeking to make sense of international politics today.
Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?
Serhii Plokhy's The Last Empire receives high praise for its thrilling narrative and incisive examination of the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991. Critics appreciate its vibrant storytelling, unique perspectives, and challenge to traditional views of the Cold War's end. The book is lauded for its fresh insights, particularly highlighting Ukraine's crucial role and providing a nuanced understanding that extends beyond Moscow and Washington.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781780746463
Publisher: Oneworld Publications
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 07 May 2015
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: Oneworld Publications
Illustration: 8 Plates, black and white
Audience: General / adult, Tertiary education
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 30.0mm
Width: 129.0mm
Height: 198.0mm
Weight: 250g
Pages: 528
About the Author
Serhii Plokhy is the Mykhailo Hrushevsky Professor of Ukrainian History and Director of the Ukrainian Research Institute at Harvard University, where he was also named Walter Channing Cabot Fellow in 2013. A leading authority on Eastern Europe, he has lived and taught in Ukraine, Canada, and the United States. He has published extensively in English, Ukrainian, and Russian. For three successive years (2002-2005) his books won first prize of the American Association for Ukrainian Studies.
Also by Serhii Plokhy
View all-
The Gates of Europe
Immerse yourself in the captivating history of Ukraine with The Gates of Europe by Serhii Plokhy. This authoritative narrative unveils the rich and complex tapestry of Ukraine, a land situated at the crossroads of Eastern and Western civilisations. Tracing Ukraine's journey from the medieval period to the present day, Plokhy meticulously explores how the region's unique geopolitical position has made...Paperback$3000Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips tomorrow -
Chernobyl
Chernobyl by Serhii Plokhy offers a gripping, minute-by-minute account of one of the most devastating events of the Cold War. This masterfully researched work delves into the cataclysmic explosion of a reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Soviet Ukraine on the morning of 26 April 1986, an incident that brought the world perilously close to nuclear annihilation. Plokhy...Paperback$2500Elsewhere:$2800Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
The Russo-Ukrainian War
Urgent, compelling reading from the author of Chernobyl on the defining conflict of our times — do you know what is at stake in Ukraine? On 24 February 2022, Russia shocked the world by launching an invasion of Ukraine. In the midst of checking on loved ones who were now on the front lines of Europe's largest conflict since the...Paperback$3000Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
Atoms and Ashes
Baillie-Gifford award-winner Serhii Plokhy's illuminating exploration of the atomic age through the history of six nuclear disasters. In 2011, a 43-foot-high tsunami crashed into a nuclear power plant in Fukushima, Japan. In the following days, explosions would rip buildings apart, three reactors would go into nuclear meltdown, and the surrounding area would be swamped in radioactive water. It is now...Paperback$3000Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips tomorrow -
The Nuclear Age
From the bestselling author of Chernobyl comes a sweeping history of the geopolitics behind the nuclear arms race, from the first atomic bomb to today. On 16 July 1945, the Nuclear Age began with the explosion of the first atomic bomb and the words of J. Robert Oppenheimer: "Now I am become Death, the Destroyer of Worlds." While the threat...Paperback$3199Elsewhere:$4500Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips tomorrow -
Chernobyl Roulette
The acclaimed winner of the Baillie Gifford Prize returns to Chernobyl to tell the gripping story of thirty-five days of war. On 24 February 2022, the first day of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, armoured vehicles approached the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in northern Ukraine. It was the most direct way for them to reach the capital - and an...Paperback$4000Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips tomorrow -
Nuclear Folly
The definitive history of the Cuban Missile Crisis from the bestselling author of Chernobyl: History of a Tragedy. For more than four weeks in the autumn of 1962, the world teetered. The consequences of a misplaced step during the Cuban Missile Crisis could not have been more grave. Ash and cinder, famine and fallout; nuclear war between the two most...Paperback$3400Elsewhere:$3700Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
Lost Kingdom
An astonishingly wide-ranging history of Russian nationalism from a pre-eminent scholar of Eastern Europe. In 2014, Russia annexed Crimea and attempted to seize a portion of Ukraine. While the world watched in outrage, this violation of national sovereignty was in fact only the latest iteration of a centuries-long effort to expand Russian boundaries and create a pan-Russian nation. In Lost...Paperback$2600Elsewhere:$2800Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
Forgotten Bastards of the Eastern Front
From the winner of the Baillie Gifford Prize, the incredible true story of one of the most audacious and little-known operations of WW2. In November 1943, with the outcome of the Second World War hanging in the balance, the Allies needed a new plan. The Americans' audacious suggestion to the Soviets was to open a second air front, with the...Paperback$2400Elsewhere:$2600Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
Chernobyl Roulette
The award-winning historian returns to Chernobyl to tell the gripping story of thirty-five days of war. On 24 February 2022, the first day of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, armoured vehicles approached the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in northern Ukraine. It was the most direct way for them to reach the capital - and an extraordinarily reckless plan after the...Paperback$3000Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
David and Goliath: Commentaries on the Russo-Ukrainian War
The biblical image of David and Goliath fittingly captures the nature of the war that Russia, the world's largest country by surface area, unleashed on neighbouring Ukraine. While Ukraine is the largest country on the European continent, it is almost thirty times smaller than Russia and has only over a quarter of Russia's population. Yet, Ukraine's stubborn resistance proves that...Paperback$5999Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
The Frontline
The Frontline presents a selection of essays drawn together for the first time to form a companion volume to Serhii Plokhy's The Gates of Europe and Chernobyl. Here, he expands upon his analysis in earlier works of key events in Ukrainian history, including Ukraine's complex relations with Russia and the West, the burden of tragedies such as the Holodomor and...Paperback$4099Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks
More from History & Military
View all-
Saving Elli
One child. Two years in hiding. Three lives in mortal danger. In Nazi-occupied Amsterdam, near Anne Frank's house, another Jewish girl is hidden. Her name is Elli. Her father has been executed at Mauthausen concentration camp. Her mother is fleeing for her life. Elli is next. To save her, resistance couple Frits and Jo Hakkens must risk everything, concealing her...Paperback$3299Elsewhere:$3799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips tomorrow -
The Spy and the Traitor
The Spy and the Traitor by Ben Macintyre is a spellbinding Cold War thriller that unravels the true story of Oleg Gordievsky, a KGB double agent who risked everything to aid the British in the battle against Soviet oppression. In meticulously researched detail, Macintyre paints a vivid portrait of espionage, double-crossing, and unparalleled bravery, giving readers a riveting glimpse into...Paperback$2100Elsewhere:$2600Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips tomorrow -
New ReleaseSuicidal Empathy
The bestselling author of The Parasitic Mind shows why empathy in politics leads to civilizational collapse. What happens when a society elevates victimhood to a virtue and decides that punishment is cruel? You get the disease Dr. Gad Saad calls suicidal empathy. And the West may be terminally infected. In his new book, Suicidal Empathy, Saad unleashes a blistering critique...Paperback$3099Elsewhere:$3799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips tomorrow -
Man's Search For Meaning
Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl is a profound, thought-provoking memoir and psychological exploration that delves into the harrowing experiences of life in Nazi concentration camps, intertwined with the author’s groundbreaking theories on existential psychology. The book is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit, offering a beacon of hope and a roadmap for finding purpose...Paperback$1800Elsewhere:$2100Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips tomorrow -
Betrayal
‘Tom Bower is the Inspector Morse of investigative biographers, a fluent, phlegmatic storyteller and a master of intricacies.’ Sunday Times The British Crown is in crisis, with constitutional threats at home and abroad. At a landmark moment in royal history, can King Charles overcome the scandals that blight the Royal family? Can the broken bonds between the Houses of Sussex...Paperback$3499Elsewhere:$3999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips tomorrow -
The Chief and the Empire
The Chief and the Empire uncovers the extraordinary true tale of Te Tai Tokerau rangatira Te Pahi - the first influential Māori leader to cross the Tasman - whose curiosity about the Pākehā world forged alliances, saved lives, and ultimately cost him his own. On a visit to Sydney in 1805, Te Pahi was feted as a celebrity, building close...Paperback$3200Elsewhere:$3999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips tomorrow -
Discipline
Silence is complicity, but how do we confront the cost of speaking up? Sydney, May 2021. Ashraf is an academic whose career and personal life are in freefall. Hannah is a young journalist struggling to honour the voices of her community. When a Year 12 Al-Bayinnah College student is arrested for protesting a university's ties to an Israeli weapons manufacturer,...Paperback$4000Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips tomorrow -
Shattered Lands
'A sparkling debut by an outstanding young historian' – PETER FRANKOPAN 'This book is a revelation … both original and important' – MISHAL HUSAIN A history of modern South Asia told through five partitions that reshaped it. As recently as 1928, a vast swathe of Asia – India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Burma, Nepal, Bhutan, Yemen, Oman, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, and...Paperback$3699Elsewhere:$4500Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips tomorrow -
Goliath’s Curse
Goliath’s Curse by Luke Kemp offers a radical retelling of human history through the lens of collapse, delving into what this means for our uncertain future. This narrative spans from the dawn of our species to the urgent existential threats of the twenty-first century and beyond. It's grounded in the latest research and a comprehensive database of more than 440...Paperback$2999Elsewhere:$4000Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips tomorrow -
New ReleaseThe Good Settler
‘Where once I saw a view as I drove around the Taranaki coast along State Highway 45, I now see confiscated land from an invasion road. The creation story I used to subscribe to, the one in which hard-working people came here and settled the land, now jars. Weirdly, even the lawn looks different. The form of things just won’t...Paperback$3199Elsewhere:$3999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips tomorrow -
Banjara
A powerful literary debut from an astonishing new Kiwi voice, focusing on the Indo-Fijian indenture system and how it affected generations across the Pacific.Rajasthan 1888: Avani Rathod, a nomad of the Banjara community, is summoned to teach a blue-eyed colonial officer the trees of her region, but instead is misled into indenture to the sugarcane plantations of Fiji. While on...Paperback$3099Elsewhere:$3799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips tomorrow -
This Way Up
The debut book from the YouTube sensation and all-round cartographical nerds, The Map Men! In their long-awaited debut, YouTube’s Map Men bring their highly infectious enthusiasm for everything map-related to the printed page for the very first time, in a brilliantly entertaining and eye-catching tome. Packed with humour and fascinating facts, This Way Up takes a deep dive into the...Paperback$3199Elsewhere:$3999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips tomorrow
Why buy from us?
Book Hero is not a chain store or big box retailer. We're an independent 100% NZ-owned business on a mission to help more Kiwis rediscover a love of books and reading!
Service & Delivery
Our warehouse in Auckland holds over 100,000 books, toys, board games and puzzles in-stock so you're not waiting for your order to arrive from overseas.
Auckland Bookstore
We're primarily an online store, but for your convenience you can pick up your order for free from our bookstore, which is right next door to our warehouse in Hobsonville.
Our Gifting Service
Books make wonderful thoughtful gifts and we're here to help with gift-wrapping and cards. We can even send your gift directly to your loved one.
