The August Coup

“Robert Service is the English-speaking world’s foremost historian of 20th-century Russia and Bolshevism . . . Service has displayed a remarkable grasp of the vast sources, and a delightfully clear writing style which makes even the complexities of Soviet bureaucracy easy to understand . . . Service guides the reader through the chaos of the collapsing system and the machinations of the coup leaders with ease and grace . . . magnificent”John Simpson, The Guardian

“A masterly piece of scholarship, written like a political thriller . . . it’s likely to become a definitive account of a key moment in the last days of the Soviet Union ”NJ McGarrigle, The Irish Times

“He is a master of old-time prosopography . . . a meticulous account”Bruce Clark, The New Statesman

“A lively and insightful account . . . [from] Britain's foremost expert on Soviet history”Edward Lucas, The Times