The Dark Side of the Earth

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What to expect

'TEN, NINE, EIGHT, SEVEN . . .' On April 12, 1961, the Soviet Union begins its countdown. From the steppes of Kazakhstan, the first human - Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin - launches into space.

In that moment, another countdown begins. How could it be that a single generation - just three decades - would separate the USSR's crowning achievement from the collapse of the Soviet empire?

More than a history lesson, The Dark Side of the Earth is a testament to the enduring fight for truth and freedom. In pursuit of the real story, renowned Kremlin opponent Mikhail Zygar ('one of Russia's smartest and best-sourced young journalists' - New York Times) gathered witness statements of jaw-dropping candour from hundreds of key players: the last first secretaries and first presidents of the post-Soviet republics, the leaders of independence movements, Western politicians and diplomats, and Mikhail Gorbachev himself, not to mention dozens of scientists, authors, film directors, aspiring rockstars and ordinary men and women who for a time became the accidental protagonists of history.

The end of the USSR set the stage for today's vengeful return. But as Gagarin looked down from the stars at his home world, was Russia's fate already written?

Critics Review

I love books that tell the story of an entire country through the intimate, everyday lives of its people - both famous and unknown. Mikhail Zygar is one of the most thoughtful Russian writers of our time, and behind every page lies meticulous, painstaking work. You may think you know how it all ends, but still, you simply can't put it down
YULIA NAVALNAYA, pro-democracy activist and widow of Alexei Navalny
This is history as experience, systems rendered through the lives they shape and often destroy . . . The Dark Side of the Earth shines
DAILY TELEGRAPH
Savage, comic and tragic. Mikhail Zygar's brilliant eye-witness account of the end of the Soviet Union takes you to the heart of modern Russia
JOHN CRACE, author of DEPRAVED NEW WORLD
Blends political history, cultural studies, and biographical narrative to illuminate the persistence of imperial ideology . . . The Dark Side of the Earth reads less like a history book and more like a strategic briefing disguised as cultural analysis. Zygar's central insight is that Russia's post-Soviet trajectory cannot be understood through policy alone - it must be decoded through the stories it tells itself
THE CIPHER BRIEF
A marathon effort to retell the story of perestroika through hundreds of interviews [Zygar] conducted over several years with many of the leading participants . . . The tale jumps from one personality to another, weaving world events in the background, meandering across Russia's vast landscape . . . It is a dramatic story, full of wonderful anecdotes . . . Perhaps it is the only way to write about a revolution
FINANCIAL TIMES
Paints a vivid picture . . . a wide-ranging narrative that frames the Soviet collapse amid events including the Tiananmen Square massacre in China and the Islamic Revolution in Iran
TIMES
In Zygar's book, it's people who take center stage, not messiahs; individual characters, not abstract nations. We see that it wasn't dictators who saved the world from apocalypse, but humanists. And the contrast with today's rulers makes the book all the more bitter and revealing. And yes, it's brilliantly written - with a lively, sparkling wit
DMITRY MURATOV, winner of the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize
Zygar is one of the most brilliant observers of contemporary Russia. He is both a protagonist in his country's recent history and a skilled analyst of its politics. The Dark Side of the Earth showcases his unique perspectives, and considerable talent for vivid storytelling as he looks back at the collapse of the Soviet Union. This is also a deeply personal story, which makes for a particularly powerful narrative and a profoundly moving book
FIONA HILL, former White House Russia advisor and witness in the impeachment of Donald Trump
An idiosyncratic, insightful account of both the end of the Soviet Union and the rise of Putinism - a useful and timely reminder of how closely these two forms of dictatorship are connected
ANNE APPLEBAUM, author of AUTOCRACY INC
This is history as it should be: written like a novel and brimming with moral urgency. An extraordinary piece of work
IAN DUNT, author of HOW WESTMINSTER WORKS . . . AND WHY IT DOESN'T

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