There Is No Freedom Without Bread!: 1989 and the Civil War That Brought Down Communism

Title: There Is No Freedom Without Bread!: 1989 and the Civil War That Brought Down Communism
Author: Constantine Pleshakov
ISBN: 9780312655334
Publisher: Picador
Published: 2010
Binding: Paperback
Language: English
Edition: First Edition
Number of Pages: 304
Condition Note: Excellent, unmarked copy with little wear and tight binding. We ship in recyclable American-made mailers. 100% money-back guarantee on all orders.
Publisher Description:

The conventional story of the end of the Cold War is simple: Ronald Reagan waged an aggressive campaign against communism, outspent his opponent, and forced Mikhail Gorbachev to "tear down this wall."

In There Is No Freedom Without Bread!, Russian-born historian Constantine Pleshakov proposes a different interpretation. The revolutions that took place in 1989 were the result of politicking, tensions between Moscow and local governments, compromise between revolutionary leaders and communist old-timers, and the will and anger of the people. In a dramatic narrative culminating in that whirlwind year, Pleshakov challenges the received wisdom and argues that 1989 was as much about national civil wars and internal struggles for power as it was about the Eastern Europeans throwing off the yoke of Moscow.