Author: E.E. Knight
Publisher: Ace
ISBN: 0451414470
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 322
Book Description
."..David Valentine's loyal Lieutenant Alessa Duvalier disobeys his orders--and finds herself uncovering a betrayal..."--Amazon.com.
Baltic Gambit
Author: E.E. Knight
Publisher: Ace
ISBN: 0451414470
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 322
Book Description
."..David Valentine's loyal Lieutenant Alessa Duvalier disobeys his orders--and finds herself uncovering a betrayal..."--Amazon.com.
Publisher: Ace
ISBN: 0451414470
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 322
Book Description
."..David Valentine's loyal Lieutenant Alessa Duvalier disobeys his orders--and finds herself uncovering a betrayal..."--Amazon.com.
The Baltic Gambit
Author: Dewey Lambdin
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 1429936258
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 380
Book Description
January 1801, and Captain Alan Lewrie, RN, known as "St. Alan the Liberator" for freeing (stealing!) a dozen black slaves on Jamaica to man his frigate years before, is at last being brought to trial for it, with his life on the line. At the same time, Russia, Sweden, Denmark, and Prussia are forming a League of Armed Neutrality, to Napoleon Bonaparte's delight, to deny Great Britain their vital exports, even if it means war. England will need all her experienced sea dogs, but ... even Alan Lewrie? Ultimately Lewis is acquitted, but he's also ignored by the Navy, so it's half-pay on "civvy street" for him, and with idle time on his mischievous hands, Lewrie is sure to get himself in trouble---again!---especially if there are young women and his wastrel public school friends involved...and they are! A brawl in a Panton Saint brothel, a drunk, infatuated young Russian count, precede Lewrie's summons to Admiralty and the command of the Thermopylae frigate to replace an ill captain as the fleet gathers to face down the League of the North, and its instigator, the mad Tsar Paul. Lewrie must take the Thermopylae into the Baltic in the dead of winter, alone and with no support, to scout the enemy fleets and iced-in harbours, deal with a fellow officer who is less of a friend than he thought, and be saddled with a pair of Russian noblemen as a last-minute peace delegation, but if the wily Foreign Office spy-master, Zachariah Twigg, sent them, what else might their mission be? All that and the Battle of Copenhagen, too, and it's broadsides at close quarters, and treachery for Lewrie, forcing him to use all his wiles to survive!
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 1429936258
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 380
Book Description
January 1801, and Captain Alan Lewrie, RN, known as "St. Alan the Liberator" for freeing (stealing!) a dozen black slaves on Jamaica to man his frigate years before, is at last being brought to trial for it, with his life on the line. At the same time, Russia, Sweden, Denmark, and Prussia are forming a League of Armed Neutrality, to Napoleon Bonaparte's delight, to deny Great Britain their vital exports, even if it means war. England will need all her experienced sea dogs, but ... even Alan Lewrie? Ultimately Lewis is acquitted, but he's also ignored by the Navy, so it's half-pay on "civvy street" for him, and with idle time on his mischievous hands, Lewrie is sure to get himself in trouble---again!---especially if there are young women and his wastrel public school friends involved...and they are! A brawl in a Panton Saint brothel, a drunk, infatuated young Russian count, precede Lewrie's summons to Admiralty and the command of the Thermopylae frigate to replace an ill captain as the fleet gathers to face down the League of the North, and its instigator, the mad Tsar Paul. Lewrie must take the Thermopylae into the Baltic in the dead of winter, alone and with no support, to scout the enemy fleets and iced-in harbours, deal with a fellow officer who is less of a friend than he thought, and be saddled with a pair of Russian noblemen as a last-minute peace delegation, but if the wily Foreign Office spy-master, Zachariah Twigg, sent them, what else might their mission be? All that and the Battle of Copenhagen, too, and it's broadsides at close quarters, and treachery for Lewrie, forcing him to use all his wiles to survive!
Novice Dragoneer
Author: E.E. Knight
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1984804073
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 514
Book Description
In the first book in an exciting new coming-of-age fantasy series from the author of the Age of Fire series, an impoverished girl enters into a military order of dragonriders, but her path won't be as easy or as straightforward as she expected. Fourteen-year-old Ileth grew up in an orphanage, and thanks to her stutter was never thought to be destined for much beyond kitchen work and cleaning. But she's dreamed of serving with the dragons ever since a childhood meeting with a glittering silver dragon and its female dragoneer. For years she waits, and as soon as she is old enough to join, Ileth runs away to become a novice dragoneer at the ancient human-dragon fortress of the Serpentine. While most of her fellow apprentices are from rich and influential families, Ileth must fight for her place in the world, even if it includes a duel with her boss at the fish-gutting table. She's then sent off to the dragon-dancers after a foolish kiss with a famously named boy and given charge of a sickly old dragon with a mysterious past. But she finds those trials were nothing when she has to take the place of a dead dragoneer and care for his imprisoned dragon in enemy lands. . . .
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1984804073
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 514
Book Description
In the first book in an exciting new coming-of-age fantasy series from the author of the Age of Fire series, an impoverished girl enters into a military order of dragonriders, but her path won't be as easy or as straightforward as she expected. Fourteen-year-old Ileth grew up in an orphanage, and thanks to her stutter was never thought to be destined for much beyond kitchen work and cleaning. But she's dreamed of serving with the dragons ever since a childhood meeting with a glittering silver dragon and its female dragoneer. For years she waits, and as soon as she is old enough to join, Ileth runs away to become a novice dragoneer at the ancient human-dragon fortress of the Serpentine. While most of her fellow apprentices are from rich and influential families, Ileth must fight for her place in the world, even if it includes a duel with her boss at the fish-gutting table. She's then sent off to the dragon-dancers after a foolish kiss with a famously named boy and given charge of a sickly old dragon with a mysterious past. But she finds those trials were nothing when she has to take the place of a dead dragoneer and care for his imprisoned dragon in enemy lands. . . .
Red War
Author: Vince Flynn
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 150119061X
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 368
Book Description
This instant #1 New York Times bestseller and “modern techno-thriller” (New York Journal of Books) follows covert operative Mitch Rapp in a terrifying race to stop Russia’s gravely ill leader from starting a full-scale war with NATO. When Russian president Maxim Krupin discovers that he has inoperable brain cancer, he’s determined to cling to power. His first task is to kill or imprison any countrymen threatening him. But when his illness becomes increasingly serious, he decides on a dramatic diversion—war with the West. Upon learning of Krupin’s condition, CIA director Irene Kennedy understands that the US is facing an opponent who has nothing to lose. The only way to avoid a confrontation that could leave millions dead is to send Mitch Rapp to Russia under impossibly dangerous orders. With the Kremlin’s entire security apparatus hunting him, he must find and kill a man many have deemed the most powerful in the world. The fate of the free world hangs in the balance in this “timely, explosive novel that shows yet again why Mitch Rapp is the best hero the thriller genre has to offer” (The Real Book Spy).
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 150119061X
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 368
Book Description
This instant #1 New York Times bestseller and “modern techno-thriller” (New York Journal of Books) follows covert operative Mitch Rapp in a terrifying race to stop Russia’s gravely ill leader from starting a full-scale war with NATO. When Russian president Maxim Krupin discovers that he has inoperable brain cancer, he’s determined to cling to power. His first task is to kill or imprison any countrymen threatening him. But when his illness becomes increasingly serious, he decides on a dramatic diversion—war with the West. Upon learning of Krupin’s condition, CIA director Irene Kennedy understands that the US is facing an opponent who has nothing to lose. The only way to avoid a confrontation that could leave millions dead is to send Mitch Rapp to Russia under impossibly dangerous orders. With the Kremlin’s entire security apparatus hunting him, he must find and kill a man many have deemed the most powerful in the world. The fate of the free world hangs in the balance in this “timely, explosive novel that shows yet again why Mitch Rapp is the best hero the thriller genre has to offer” (The Real Book Spy).
Lewrie and the Hogsheads
Author: Dewey Lambdin
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 1466830476
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 72
Book Description
"Lambdin is closing on Patrick O'Brian as the most prolific historical novelist to celebrate a Royal Navy mariner." —Washington Times Dewey Lambdin presents a new short story, "Lewrie and the Hogsheads," starring the most colorful captain of the Royal Navy, Alan Lewrie. Capt. Lewrie of the HMS Reliant has been stuck in Nassau Harbor, biding his time after ferreting out pirates on the coast of Spanish Florida. Until, that is, one of his brig sloops comes into harbor with an unexpected cargo of survivors from an American brig. Their ship, the Santee out of Charleston, South Carolina, has been taken by a Spanish privateer far down in the Bahamas near the Crooked Island passage. With this news of more pirates at large, Lewrie has a chance to get out of dodge, have some fun, and maybe even capture a prize. But he's about to learn that there's another, much boozier side to the Americans' story.[Word Count: 10,470, Approximate Pages: 45] "Lewrie's a worthy shipmate for Aubrey and Hornblower." —Kirkus Reviews "Lewrie is an endearing character-hero, philanderer, smuggler, spy: a courageous naval officer unencumbered by high morals or indecision." —Publishers Weekly "You could get addicted to this series. Easily." —The New York Times Book Review "The best naval adventure series since C. S. Forester." —Library Journal "Stunning naval adventure, reeking of powder and mayhem. I wish I had written this series." —Bernard Cornwell "Lambdin is closing on Patrick O'Brian as the most prolific historical novelist to celebrate a Royal Navy mariner." —Washington Times Dewey Lambdin presents a new short story starring the most colorful captain of the Royal Navy, Alan Lewrie. Capt. Lewrie of the HMS Reliant has been stuck in Nassau Harbor, biding his time after ferreting out pirates on the coast of Spanish Florida. Until, that is, one of his brig sloops comes into harbor with an unexpected cargo of survivors from an American brig. Their ship, the Santee out of Charleston, South Carolina, has been taken by a Spanish privateer far down in the Bahamas near the Crooked Island passage. With this news of more pirates at large, Lewrie has a chance to get out of dodge, have some fun, and maybe even capture a prize. But he's about to learn that there's another, much boozier side to the Americans' story. "Lewrie's a worthy shipmate for Aubrey and Hornblower." —Kirkus Reviews "Lewrie is an endearing character-hero, philanderer, smuggler, spy: a courageous naval officer unencumbered by high morals or indecision." —Publishers Weekly "You could get addicted to this series. Easily." —The New York Times Book Review "The best naval adventure series since C. S. Forester." —Library Journal "Stunning naval adventure, reeking of powder and mayhem. I wish I had written this series." —Bernard Cornwell[Word Count: 10,470, Approximate Pages: 45]
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 1466830476
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 72
Book Description
"Lambdin is closing on Patrick O'Brian as the most prolific historical novelist to celebrate a Royal Navy mariner." —Washington Times Dewey Lambdin presents a new short story, "Lewrie and the Hogsheads," starring the most colorful captain of the Royal Navy, Alan Lewrie. Capt. Lewrie of the HMS Reliant has been stuck in Nassau Harbor, biding his time after ferreting out pirates on the coast of Spanish Florida. Until, that is, one of his brig sloops comes into harbor with an unexpected cargo of survivors from an American brig. Their ship, the Santee out of Charleston, South Carolina, has been taken by a Spanish privateer far down in the Bahamas near the Crooked Island passage. With this news of more pirates at large, Lewrie has a chance to get out of dodge, have some fun, and maybe even capture a prize. But he's about to learn that there's another, much boozier side to the Americans' story.[Word Count: 10,470, Approximate Pages: 45] "Lewrie's a worthy shipmate for Aubrey and Hornblower." —Kirkus Reviews "Lewrie is an endearing character-hero, philanderer, smuggler, spy: a courageous naval officer unencumbered by high morals or indecision." —Publishers Weekly "You could get addicted to this series. Easily." —The New York Times Book Review "The best naval adventure series since C. S. Forester." —Library Journal "Stunning naval adventure, reeking of powder and mayhem. I wish I had written this series." —Bernard Cornwell "Lambdin is closing on Patrick O'Brian as the most prolific historical novelist to celebrate a Royal Navy mariner." —Washington Times Dewey Lambdin presents a new short story starring the most colorful captain of the Royal Navy, Alan Lewrie. Capt. Lewrie of the HMS Reliant has been stuck in Nassau Harbor, biding his time after ferreting out pirates on the coast of Spanish Florida. Until, that is, one of his brig sloops comes into harbor with an unexpected cargo of survivors from an American brig. Their ship, the Santee out of Charleston, South Carolina, has been taken by a Spanish privateer far down in the Bahamas near the Crooked Island passage. With this news of more pirates at large, Lewrie has a chance to get out of dodge, have some fun, and maybe even capture a prize. But he's about to learn that there's another, much boozier side to the Americans' story. "Lewrie's a worthy shipmate for Aubrey and Hornblower." —Kirkus Reviews "Lewrie is an endearing character-hero, philanderer, smuggler, spy: a courageous naval officer unencumbered by high morals or indecision." —Publishers Weekly "You could get addicted to this series. Easily." —The New York Times Book Review "The best naval adventure series since C. S. Forester." —Library Journal "Stunning naval adventure, reeking of powder and mayhem. I wish I had written this series." —Bernard Cornwell[Word Count: 10,470, Approximate Pages: 45]
An Onshore Storm
Author: Dewey Lambdin
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
ISBN: 1250103657
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 351
Book Description
For over twenty years, Dewey Lambdin's devoted fans have followed the adventures of Alan Lewrie, Royal Navy, from his days as a midshipmen to captain of his own ship and, though on somewhat dubious grounds, a baronetcy. Now comes the latest in the Alan Lewrie naval series, An Onshore Storm, where Lewrie will take on his roughest adventure: maritime life beyond the navy. Three mismatched troop transports, lots of 29-foot barges, and an under-strength regiment of foot—a waste of Royal Navy money, a doomed experiment, or a new way to bedevil Napoleon’s army in Italy? Either way, it’s Capt. Sir Alan Lewrie’s idea, and it seems to be working, with successful raids all along the coast of Calabria. But it depends on timely information, and Lewrie must trust Don Julio Caesare, a lord of a Sicilian criminal underworld, and his minions, or the amateur efforts of a disorganized network of Calabrian partisans always in need of British arms and King George III’s money. When at last the fourth transport arrives with reinforcement troops, what seems to be a blessing could turn out to be the ruin of the whole thing! Lewrie has been too successful in his career at sea and he’s made bitter, jealous enemies with powerful patrons out to crush him and his novel squadron, no matter if it’s succeeding. And there are doings back in England that Lewrie would prefer to deal with but can’t. Lewrie has always been lucky, always finding a way to prevail—but can he this time? And if he is to be betrayed, who will do it? Lambdin has been praised as the "brilliantly stylish American master of salty-tongued British naval tales" (Kirkus Reviews) and doesn't disappoint with this riveting addition to Lewrie's adventures.
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
ISBN: 1250103657
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 351
Book Description
For over twenty years, Dewey Lambdin's devoted fans have followed the adventures of Alan Lewrie, Royal Navy, from his days as a midshipmen to captain of his own ship and, though on somewhat dubious grounds, a baronetcy. Now comes the latest in the Alan Lewrie naval series, An Onshore Storm, where Lewrie will take on his roughest adventure: maritime life beyond the navy. Three mismatched troop transports, lots of 29-foot barges, and an under-strength regiment of foot—a waste of Royal Navy money, a doomed experiment, or a new way to bedevil Napoleon’s army in Italy? Either way, it’s Capt. Sir Alan Lewrie’s idea, and it seems to be working, with successful raids all along the coast of Calabria. But it depends on timely information, and Lewrie must trust Don Julio Caesare, a lord of a Sicilian criminal underworld, and his minions, or the amateur efforts of a disorganized network of Calabrian partisans always in need of British arms and King George III’s money. When at last the fourth transport arrives with reinforcement troops, what seems to be a blessing could turn out to be the ruin of the whole thing! Lewrie has been too successful in his career at sea and he’s made bitter, jealous enemies with powerful patrons out to crush him and his novel squadron, no matter if it’s succeeding. And there are doings back in England that Lewrie would prefer to deal with but can’t. Lewrie has always been lucky, always finding a way to prevail—but can he this time? And if he is to be betrayed, who will do it? Lambdin has been praised as the "brilliantly stylish American master of salty-tongued British naval tales" (Kirkus Reviews) and doesn't disappoint with this riveting addition to Lewrie's adventures.
Kings and Emperors
Author: Dewey Lambdin
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 1250030064
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 368
Book Description
“The best naval adventure series since C. S. Forester.” —Library Journal Captain Alan Lewrie, Royal Navy, is still in Gibraltar, his schemes for raids along the coast of Southern Spain shot to a halt. He is reduced to commanding a clutch of harbor defense gunboats in the bay while his ship, HMS Sapphire, slowly grounds herself on a reef of beef bones! Until Napoleon Bonaparte’s invasion of peaceful Portugal and his so-called collaborative march into Spain change everything, freeing Sapphire to roam against the King’s enemies once more! As kings are overthrown and popular uprisings break out all across Spain, Lewrie’s right back in the action, ferrying weapons to arm Spanish patriots, scouting within close gun range of the impregnable fort of Ceuta, escorting the advance units of British expeditionary armies to aid the Spanish, and even going ashore to witness the first battles between Sir Arthur Wellesley, later the Duke of Wellington, and Napoleon’s best Marshals, as the long Peninsular War that broke Imperial France begins to unfold. From Cádiz to La Coruña, Lewrie and Sapphire will be there as history explodes!
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 1250030064
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 368
Book Description
“The best naval adventure series since C. S. Forester.” —Library Journal Captain Alan Lewrie, Royal Navy, is still in Gibraltar, his schemes for raids along the coast of Southern Spain shot to a halt. He is reduced to commanding a clutch of harbor defense gunboats in the bay while his ship, HMS Sapphire, slowly grounds herself on a reef of beef bones! Until Napoleon Bonaparte’s invasion of peaceful Portugal and his so-called collaborative march into Spain change everything, freeing Sapphire to roam against the King’s enemies once more! As kings are overthrown and popular uprisings break out all across Spain, Lewrie’s right back in the action, ferrying weapons to arm Spanish patriots, scouting within close gun range of the impregnable fort of Ceuta, escorting the advance units of British expeditionary armies to aid the Spanish, and even going ashore to witness the first battles between Sir Arthur Wellesley, later the Duke of Wellington, and Napoleon’s best Marshals, as the long Peninsular War that broke Imperial France begins to unfold. From Cádiz to La Coruña, Lewrie and Sapphire will be there as history explodes!
An Attacking Repertoire for White with 1.d4
Author: Viktor Moskalenko
Publisher: New In Chess
ISBN: 905691829X
Category : Games & Activities
Languages : en
Pages : 751
Book Description
Viktor Moskalenko is one of the leading chess instructors of our time. Not only has he coached Masters and Grandmasters, including Ukrainian star Vasily Ivanchuk, he has also taught hundreds of classes for amateurs and his best-selling books have inspired thousands of ambitious club players all over the world. Moskalenko’s previous and highly popular chess opening books were mainly written for the Black pieces. Now he presents an extremely powerful set of lines for White. The guiding principle of his 1.d4 repertoire is: be bold and put pressure on your opponent as early as possible. Moskalenko does not shower you with long computer-generated variations but has a keen eye for the essence of positions. His talent to find new resources in well-known lines results in a host of novelties, daring recommendations and cunning tricks. When you play his lines and follow his recommendations you will frequently surprise your opponent and build up positions full of swing. Studying An Attacking Repertoire for White with 1.d4 is a delight because this is a typical Moskalenko book: practical, accessible, original and inspiring.
Publisher: New In Chess
ISBN: 905691829X
Category : Games & Activities
Languages : en
Pages : 751
Book Description
Viktor Moskalenko is one of the leading chess instructors of our time. Not only has he coached Masters and Grandmasters, including Ukrainian star Vasily Ivanchuk, he has also taught hundreds of classes for amateurs and his best-selling books have inspired thousands of ambitious club players all over the world. Moskalenko’s previous and highly popular chess opening books were mainly written for the Black pieces. Now he presents an extremely powerful set of lines for White. The guiding principle of his 1.d4 repertoire is: be bold and put pressure on your opponent as early as possible. Moskalenko does not shower you with long computer-generated variations but has a keen eye for the essence of positions. His talent to find new resources in well-known lines results in a host of novelties, daring recommendations and cunning tricks. When you play his lines and follow his recommendations you will frequently surprise your opponent and build up positions full of swing. Studying An Attacking Repertoire for White with 1.d4 is a delight because this is a typical Moskalenko book: practical, accessible, original and inspiring.
A Fine Retribution
Author: Dewey Lambdin
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 1250103630
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 365
Book Description
Dewey Lambdin, the reigning master of maritime fiction, continues the adventures of Alan Lewrie, Royal Navy, from his days as a midshipman to captain of his own ship and, though on somewhat dubious grounds, a baronetcy in the 23rd book in the Alan Lewrie series, A Fine Retribution. Captain Alan Lewrie and his small squadron defeat four French frigates off northern Spain, winning honor, glory, and renown. So, why is such a successful captain suddenly without a ship, or another active commission? Why do rumors swirl that jealous foes’ powerful patrons are blighting his career? Months on end ashore, even in entertaining London setting up a household for himself and his retinue, getting his portrait painted, put him in serious sulks. Well, the artist is the sister of one of his midshipmen, a delightful and talented young lady of a modern outlook, but not modern enough to become Lewrie’s lover. Dare he risk a second marriage? Then, just when things are the rosiest, at last, Admiralty calls upon him to develop and command a plan to raid French-held coasts, not with sailors and Marines from his own ship, but with a battalion of Army troops carried in a squadron of transports. It’s intriguing, novel, and a way back to sea, but...can he part from the desirable Jessica Chenery? And if Lewrie does, will his foes allow him to succeed? Be certain that Alan Lewrie will prevail, scruples be damned!
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 1250103630
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 365
Book Description
Dewey Lambdin, the reigning master of maritime fiction, continues the adventures of Alan Lewrie, Royal Navy, from his days as a midshipman to captain of his own ship and, though on somewhat dubious grounds, a baronetcy in the 23rd book in the Alan Lewrie series, A Fine Retribution. Captain Alan Lewrie and his small squadron defeat four French frigates off northern Spain, winning honor, glory, and renown. So, why is such a successful captain suddenly without a ship, or another active commission? Why do rumors swirl that jealous foes’ powerful patrons are blighting his career? Months on end ashore, even in entertaining London setting up a household for himself and his retinue, getting his portrait painted, put him in serious sulks. Well, the artist is the sister of one of his midshipmen, a delightful and talented young lady of a modern outlook, but not modern enough to become Lewrie’s lover. Dare he risk a second marriage? Then, just when things are the rosiest, at last, Admiralty calls upon him to develop and command a plan to raid French-held coasts, not with sailors and Marines from his own ship, but with a battalion of Army troops carried in a squadron of transports. It’s intriguing, novel, and a way back to sea, but...can he part from the desirable Jessica Chenery? And if Lewrie does, will his foes allow him to succeed? Be certain that Alan Lewrie will prevail, scruples be damned!
Russia's Revolution from Above, 1985-2000
Author: Gordon Hahn
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 135132618X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 1135
Book Description
The fall of the Soviet communist regime in 1991 offers a challenging contrast to other instances of democratic transition and change in the last decades of the twentieth century. The 1991 revolution was neither a peaceful revolution from below as occurred in Czechoslovakia nor a negotiated transition to democracy like those in Poland, Hungary, or Latin America. It was not primarily the result of social modernization, the rise of a new middle class, or of national liberation movements in the non-Russian union republics. Instead, as Gordon Hahn argues, the Russian transformation was a bureaucrat-led, state-based revolution managed by a group of Communist Party functionaries who won control over the Russian Republic (RSFSR) in the mid-1990s.Hahn describes how opportunistic Party and state officials, led by Boris Yeltsin, defected from the Gorbachev camp and proceeded in 1990-91 to dismantle the institutions that bound state and party. These revolutionaries from above seized control of political, economic, natural and human resources, and then separated the party apparatus from state institutions on Russian Republic territory. With the failed August 1991 hard-line coup, Yeltsin banned the Communist Party and decreed that all Union state organs, including the KGB and military were under RSFSR control. In Hahn's account, this mode of revolutionary change from above explains the troubled development of democracy in Russia and the former Soviet republics.Hahn shows how limited mobilization of the masses stunted the development of civil societies and the formation of political parties and trade unions with real grass roots. The result is a weak society unable to nudge the state to concentrate on institutional reforms society needs for the development of a free polity and economy. Russia's Revolution from Above goes far in correcting the historical record and reconceptualizing the Soviet transformation. It should be read by historians, economists, political scientists, and Russia area scholars.
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 135132618X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 1135
Book Description
The fall of the Soviet communist regime in 1991 offers a challenging contrast to other instances of democratic transition and change in the last decades of the twentieth century. The 1991 revolution was neither a peaceful revolution from below as occurred in Czechoslovakia nor a negotiated transition to democracy like those in Poland, Hungary, or Latin America. It was not primarily the result of social modernization, the rise of a new middle class, or of national liberation movements in the non-Russian union republics. Instead, as Gordon Hahn argues, the Russian transformation was a bureaucrat-led, state-based revolution managed by a group of Communist Party functionaries who won control over the Russian Republic (RSFSR) in the mid-1990s.Hahn describes how opportunistic Party and state officials, led by Boris Yeltsin, defected from the Gorbachev camp and proceeded in 1990-91 to dismantle the institutions that bound state and party. These revolutionaries from above seized control of political, economic, natural and human resources, and then separated the party apparatus from state institutions on Russian Republic territory. With the failed August 1991 hard-line coup, Yeltsin banned the Communist Party and decreed that all Union state organs, including the KGB and military were under RSFSR control. In Hahn's account, this mode of revolutionary change from above explains the troubled development of democracy in Russia and the former Soviet republics.Hahn shows how limited mobilization of the masses stunted the development of civil societies and the formation of political parties and trade unions with real grass roots. The result is a weak society unable to nudge the state to concentrate on institutional reforms society needs for the development of a free polity and economy. Russia's Revolution from Above goes far in correcting the historical record and reconceptualizing the Soviet transformation. It should be read by historians, economists, political scientists, and Russia area scholars.