{"title":"Historical Russia Biographies","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"gorbachev-his-life-and-times","title":"Gorbachev: His Life and Times","description":"\u003cp\u003eA National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe definitive biography of the transformational world leader by the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Khrushchev.\u003cbr\u003e\nWhen Mikhail Gorbachev became the leader of the Soviet Union in 1985, the USSR was one of the world’s two superpowers. By 1989, his liberal policies of perestroika and glasnost had permanently transformed Soviet Communism, and had made enemies of radicals on the right and left. By 1990 he, more than anyone else, had ended the Cold War, and in 1991, after barely escaping from a coup attempt, he unintentionally presided over the collapse of the Soviet Union he had tried to save. In the first comprehensive biography of the final Soviet leader, William Taubman shows how a peasant boy became the Soviet system’s gravedigger, how he clambered to the top of a system designed to keep people like him down, how he found common ground with America’s arch-conservative president Ronald Reagan, and how he permitted the USSR and its East European empire to break apart without using force to preserve them. Throughout, Taubman portrays the many sides of Gorbachev’s unique character that, by Gorbachev’s own admission, make him “difficult to understand.” Was he in fact a truly great leader, or was he brought low in the end by his own shortcomings, as well as by the unyielding forces he faced?\u003cbr\u003e\nDrawing on interviews with Gorbachev himself, transcripts and documents from the Russian archives, and interviews with Kremlin aides and adversaries, as well as foreign leaders, Taubman’s intensely personal portrait extends to Gorbachev’s remarkable marriage to a woman he deeply loved, and to the family that they raised together. Nuanced and poignant, yet unsparing and honest, this sweeping account has all the amplitude of a great Russian novel. 90 illustrations, ISBN13: 9780393647013 ISBN10: 0393647013 Material Type: hardcover\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"CheapBookDepot","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46124987351203,"sku":"S_STR_H0000K0P","price":10.91,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0607\/9227\/5107\/files\/71jhdiWBvyL.jpg?v=1754835878"},{"product_id":"catherine-the-great-portrait-of-a-woman-1","title":"Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman","description":"\u003cp\u003eNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • An “absorbing” (Los Angeles Times) biography of one of the most remarkable, powerful, and captivating women in Russian history—from the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Peter the Great, Nicholas and Alexandra, and The Romanovs\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e“[A] compelling portrait not just of a Russian titan, but also of a flesh-and-blood woman.”—Newsweek\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eONE OF ESQUIRE’S BEST BIOGRAPHIES OF ALL TIME • ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Today, The Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, Salon, Vogue, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, The Providence Journal\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eRobert K. Massie returns with another masterpiece of narrative biography, the extraordinary story of an obscure German princess who became Catherine the Great. Born into a minor noble family, Catherine transformed herself into empress of Russia by sheer determination. For thirty-four years, the government, foreign policy, cultural development, and welfare of the Russian people were in her hands. She dealt with domestic rebellion, foreign wars, and the tidal wave of political change and violence churned up by the French Revolution. Catherine’s family, friends, ministers, generals, lovers, and enemies—all are here, vividly brought to life. History offers few stories richer than that of Catherine the Great. In this book, an eternally fascinating woman is returned to life., ISBN13: 9780345408778 ISBN10: 0345408772 Material Type: paperback\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"CheapBookDepot","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46126391034019,"sku":"A_H0000CP4","price":11.25,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0607\/9227\/5107\/files\/71fASvXDaxL.jpg?v=1754888320"},{"product_id":"catherine-the-great-life-and-legend-1","title":"Catherine the Great : Life and Legend","description":"\u003cp\u003eOne of the most colorful characters in modern history, Catherine II of Russia began her life as a minor German princess, until the childless Empress Elizabeth and Catherine's own scheming mother married her off to the Grand Duke Peter of Russia at age sixteen. By thirty-three, she had overthrown her husband in a bloodless coup and established herself as Empress of the multinational Russian Empire, the largest territorial political unit in modern history.\u003cbr\u003e\nPortrayed both as a political genius who restored to Russia the glory it had known in the days of Peter the Great and as a despotic foreign adventuress who usurped the Russian throne, murdered her rivals, and tyrannized her subjects, she was, by all accounts, an extraordinary woman. Catherine the Great, the first popular biography of the empress based on contemporary scholarship, provides a vivid portrait of Catherine as a mother, a lover, and, above all, an extremely savvy ruler. Concentrating on her long reign (1762-96), John Alexander examines all aspects of Catherine's life and career: the brilliant political strategies by which she won the acceptance of a nationalistic elite; her expansive foreign policy; the domestic reforms with which she revamped the Russian military, political structure, and economy; and, of course, her infamous love life.\u003cbr\u003e\nBeginning with an account of the dramatic palace revolt by which Catherine unseated her husband and a background chapter describing the circumstances of her early childhood and marriage, Alexander then proceeds chronologically through the thirty-four years of her reign. Presenting Catherine in more human terms than previous biographers have, Alexander includes numerous quotations from her reminiscences and notes. We learn, for instance, not only the names and number of her lovers, but her understanding of what many considered a shocking licentiousness. \"The trouble is,\" she wrote, \"that my heart would not willingly remain one hour without love.\"\u003cbr\u003e\nThe result of twenty years' research by one of America's leading narrative historians of modern Russia, this truly impressive work offers a much-needed, balanced reappraisal of one of history's most scandal-ridden figures., ISBN13: 9780195061628 ISBN10: 0195061624 Material Type: paperback\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"CheapBookDepot","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46126598226083,"sku":"A-STR_UBD_H0000N9O","price":9.62,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0607\/9227\/5107\/files\/813zLOovtTL_aef41790-5689-4305-9d36-3fdae59855ec.jpg?v=1754895494"},{"product_id":"piety-power-mike-pence-and-the-taking-of-the-white-house","title":"Piety \u0026 Power: Mike Pence and the Taking of the White House","description":"MIKE PENCE: THE ULTIMATE POLITICAL SHAPE-SHIFTER\n“I’m a Christian, a conservative, and a Republican . . . in that order.” —Mike Pence\nAs the impeachment of President Donald Trump remains a constant topic of discussion in political circles, the questions around our current vice president also continue to swirl, and in some ways, the puzzlement over his true nature has never truly been clear. Tom LoBianco, a longtime Pence reporter, cuts to the core of the nation’s most enigmatic politician in this intimate yet expansive account of the vice president’s journey to the White House. In Piety \u0026amp; Power, LoBianco follows Pence from his evangelical conversion in college to his failed career as a young lawyer, to his thwarted attempts at politics until he hitched his wagon to far-right extremism, becoming the Congressional poster boy for faith-based policy and Tea Party rhetoric. Giving readers a minute-by-minute account of the selection process that made him Donald Trump’s unlikely running mate in 2016, Piety \u0026amp; Power traces Pence’s personal and political life, painting a picture of a man driven by faith and conviction, yes, but also a hunger for power.\nLoBianco crafts a revealing portrait of the real Mike Pence—a politician whose understated style masks a drive for power, but also a surprising political acumen—by drawing on years of research, over one hundred exclusive interviews with those closest to the vice president, and deep ties both within the Beltway and Indiana state politics. Highlighting Pence’s strained, at times obsequious, relationship with Trump; his marriage to Karen; his deeply repressed personality; his presidential aspirations and plans for America’s future; and his deep-rooted faith in his country, in God, and ultimately himself; Piety \u0026amp; Power provides insights and answers as it sheds light on this ambitious Midwestern politician, his past, and his possible future., ISBN13: 9780062868787 ISBN10: 0062868780 Material Type: hardcover","brand":"CheapBookDepot","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46126666383523,"sku":"AD.2.6 F_06-19-25_ART_H0000BCC","price":12.56,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0607\/9227\/5107\/files\/91ZQ2kuNu7L.jpg?v=1754898268"},{"product_id":"goodbye-is-not-forever-1","title":"Goodbye Is Not Forever","description":"Little Amy never knew her father. One dark night, when she was only a baby, the Soviet secret police forcefully arrested Amy's father...and condemned him to the frigid wastelands of Siberia.\nThen as World War II began, the armies of the Third Reich invaded her small Russian village. Amy, a tender seven-year-old child, was taken by cattle car to a slave labor camp and witnessed firsthand the horrors of Hitler's Germany.\nAs the war ends, Amy and her mother make a daring escape, with execution the likely verdict if they are captured. Over the years Amy wondered about her father. Was he still alive? Would she ever see him again?\nA true story, Goodbye Is Not Forever serves as a vivid confirmation of God's never-ending grace in the lives of his children., ISBN13:9781565072954 ISBN10:1565072952 Material Type:paperback, ISBN13: 9781565072954 ISBN10: 1565072952 Material Type: paperback","brand":"UsedBookDepot","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46503683063971,"sku":"A_STR_H0000FO5","price":7.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0607\/9227\/5107\/files\/61AfHJn4SoL_cbd69452-06cc-4ff0-883a-c806b23c3ada.jpg?v=1762832650"}],"url":"https:\/\/usedbookdepot.com\/collections\/historical-russia-biographies.oembed","provider":"Used Book Depot","version":"1.0","type":"link"}