Revolution 1989

The Fall of the Soviet Empire

By: Victor Sebestyen

Narrated by: Paul Hecht

Length: 18 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's summary

Revolution 1989 by British journalist Victor Sebestyen is a comprehensive and revealing account of those dizzying days that toppled Soviet tyranny and changed the World. For more than 40 years, communism held eight European nations in its iron fist. Yet by the end of 1989, all of these nations had thrown off communism, declared independence, and embarked on the road to democracy.

©2009 Victor Sebestyen (P)2009 Recorded Books, LLC

Perfectly paced and exhilarating

You won’t get bogged down with too much of the same thing for too long, each event is told in bits and pieces for the most part. You’ll get the full story but it will come in snippets. I didn’t want this to end.

Excellent - Everyone should know this stuff

Would you listen to Revolution 1989 again? Why?

I would and I am - I finished it and immediately started again.

What about Paul Hecht’s performance did you like?

Good pace, good pronunciation.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Too long for one sitting - But I got through it very quickly. I was using Wikipedia to get more details and check out some maps as I progressed through the book. This is fascinating stuff!

Any additional comments?

Get this and listen. Even being aware of a lot of this stuff I still found tons of new insight and information. If you don't know much about the Revolutions of 1989 and how the Commies fell apart this is a GREAT resource. EVERYONE should know ALL about this stuff!!

Masterpiece

Great book about the end of the cold war. Wonderful. Well presented and great narrator.

eye opener

Learned about many things I was unaware of and it was presented in a very entertaining manner and made a serious subject very human and enjoyable.

Compelling Narrative of an Empire in Decline

With the labels "Communist," "Marxist" and "Socialist" being thrown around so much in contemporary politics that they start to lose their meaning, it is refreshing to hear an account of what "really existing socialism" was like and how the oppressive systems that used socialist ideals to legitimize power ultimately collapsed.

"Revolution 1989: The Fall of the Soviet Empire" does an excellent job of describing the decline and ultimate fall of the communist regimes in Eastern Europe during the turbulent 1980s. Because there were events happening in multiple countries at different times, Sebestyen jumps each chapter from location to location and crisis to crisis. In doing so, Sebestyen highlights the common problems that Soviet puppets shared both politically and economically while also preserving the unique nature of each country's path to democratization. I found this strategy compelling as it gives the reader the sense of what was happening across Eastern Europe.

Regardless of one's economic views, the one thing that this book drives home is just how broken the Soviet system was throughout much of the Cold War period. While it is common knowledge the USSR propped up Communist regimes in Eastern Europe, this book discusses how these countries were also indebted to Western governments and banks, which would often extend credit to Soviet satellites to keep, among other things, food prices low.

Two words of caution, though: first, this book is about the fall of communist regimes in Eastern Europe and does not address to great extent the fall of the Soviet Union itself. Please adjust your expectations accordingly.

Second, if you're either a Reagan Mythologizer or Reagan Demonizer you will find this book frustrating. In terms of the former, the book discounts the popular myth that Reagan's military spending and hardline stance brought down communism—a position that I felt was, for what it's worth, disrespectful to opposition figures likes Lech Walesa, Vaclav Havel and others. If anything, this book highlights Gorbachev's policies and willingness to withhold Soviet military power as anti-Communist opposition grew as the more crucial reasons to why the Soviet empire fell.

If you are a Reagan demonizer, you may find irritating the description of Reagan moderation and pragmatism towards the "Evil Empire" as he reached his second term, especially after the Able Archer '83 scare. For example, aware of the dangers of nuclear weapons, he worked with Gorbachev on arms reduction.

If you're interested in the Cold War, especially its last stages, I highly recommend this book.

Compelling, downright entertaining

An excellently researched and composed account of the tide and eventual tsunami of events that led to the fall of communism. The internecine machinations and conflicts among the corrupt leaders in the satellite countries of Eastern Europe, especially the GDR, are particularly fascinating and revealing. The portrait of Gorbachev is also surprising.

Great Book!

I liked this book. It was informative and showed the long range of details both present and historical that led to the fall of the Soviet Bloc. Not just in the USSR but in most of the other countries behind the Iron Curtain.

A truly well written book

I never like to leave reviews of books but found it necessary in this case. Initially I was hesitant to purchase this book; once I started though, I realized I made the right choice. The author laid out the fall of the wall in the communist block with such clarity that it makes it easy to follow even for someone with a novice understanding of events of the past. Definitely would recommend.

Incredible wish there were more like it!

It is a very captivating book that leaves the reader with a much deeper knowledge of these events!

Excellent Review

I enjoyed this book. I found it an excelent and balanced view of the fall of the Soviet Block. What is chilling is the fact that many of the factors the author points out that lead to the fall of the Soviet Union are present in the current United States: a failure of leadership, the government and medias demonization of opposition, inflation, borrowing, ecessive spending etc. On a positive note, the book also shows what is possible if people are hopeful and persistent.