{"product_id":"the-last-empire-isbn-9780465046713","title":"The Last Empire","description":"\u003cb\u003eThe\u003ci\u003e New York Times \u003c\/i\u003ebestselling author of \u003ci\u003eThe Gates of Europe\u003c\/i\u003e offers “a stirring account of an extraordinary moment” in Russian history (\u003ci\u003eWall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e)\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOn Christmas Day, 1991, President George H. W. Bush addressed the nation to declare an American victory in the Cold War: earlier that day Mikhail Gorbachev had resigned as the first and last Soviet president. The enshrining of that narrative, one in which the end of the Cold War was linked to the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the triumph of democratic values over communism, took center stage in American public discourse immediately after Bush's speech and has persisted for decades -- with disastrous consequences for American standing in the world.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs prize-winning historian Serhii Plokhy reveals in \u003ci\u003eThe Last Empire\u003c\/i\u003e, the collapse of the Soviet Union was anything but the handiwork of the United States. Bush, in fact, was firmly committed to supporting Gorbachev as he attempted to hold together the USSR in the face of growing independence movements in its republics. Drawing on recently declassified documents and original interviews with key participants, Plokhy presents a bold new interpretation of the Soviet Union's final months, providing invaluable insight into the origins of the current Russian-Ukrainian conflict and the outset of the most dangerous crisis in East-West relations since the end of the Cold War.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWinner of the Lionel Gelber Prize\u003cbr\u003eWinner of the Pushkin House Russian Book Prize\u003cbr\u003eChoice Outstanding Academic Title\u003cbr\u003eBBC History Magazine Best History Book of the Year\u003c\/b\u003e","brand":"Basic Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44891843789029,"sku":"NP9780465046713","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/O_788cd2f7-e84d-44ce-90f2-b6fb37840958.jpg?v=1773106375","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/the-last-empire-isbn-9780465046713","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}