"In this newly updated edition of his acclaimed book, Stephen Kotkin shows that the Soviet collapse resulted not from military competition but, ironically, from Communist ideology, the long-held dream for "socialism with a human face." He conveys the high drama of a superpower falling apart while armed to the teeth with millions of loyal troops and tens of thousands of weapons of mass destruction. This succinct but sweeping volume takes us from deep inside post-Stalin Soviet society through the post-Soviet years of Boris Yeltsin right up to the new Russia under Vladimir Putin and Dmitri Medvedev. Armageddon Averted vividly demonstrates the overriding importance of history, individual ambition, geopolitics, and institutions, and deftly draws out resurgent Russia's contemporary predicament."--Jacket.

History's cruel tricks -- Reviving the dream -- The drama of reform -- Waiting for the end of the world -- Survival and cannibalism in the rust belt -- Democracy without liberalism? -- Idealism and treason.