Walker reminds the reader with skillfully reconstructed detail of the intricate and delicate emendations of 'sovereignty' already underway in Moscow and the republics before the collapse.

Foreign Affairs

This is the best available description of how and why the Soviet Union was transformed into fifteen independent states. A terrific book!

Yuri Slezkine, University of California, Berkeley

An elegantly written, lucid discussion of why the Soviet Union fell apart in precisely the way that it did. The book also offers a convincing explanation of why the autonomous formations within the USSR were unable to achieve independence and international recognition.

John B. Dunlop, Stanford University

Walker's book blends theoretical sophistication, intimate knowledge of the Soviet system's nature and inner workings, and a real sense of history. It is a highly ambitious and successful effort to grapple with one of the most momentous events of our time.

M. Steven Fish, University of California, Berkeley

Ned Walker tells a fascinating, compelling story of a cascade of events and decisions that led to an outcome few had anticipated. The scholarship is excellent; the tone, the balance, and the fairness of Walker's judgments are commendable.

Ronald Grigor Suny, William H. Sewell Jr. Distinguished University Professor of History and Political Science, University of Michigan

The demise of the Soviet Union remains a mystery for both politicians and scholars not only in the West but in Russia as well. Explaining this dramatic event, Edward Walker separates the dissolution of an ethno-territorial state from the death of socialism as a regime type. In his intriguing story, he addresses the deep causes of the breakup and shows the shortcomings of the Soviet ethno-federal system. Walker's compelling analysis of Gorbachev's efforts to save the collapsing is convincing. This book is a first class scholarly contribution to the study of one of the most perplexing events of the 20th century.

Vitaly Naumkin, International Center for Strategic and Political Studies