The Dark Side of the Earth: How the Soviet Union Collapsed but Remained

About the Book

A TIMES HISTORY BOOK OF THE YEAR

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?

About the Author :
Mikhail Zygar is a journalist and the founding editor-in-chief of TV Rain, which was Russia's last independent news channel. His books include War and Punishment (2023), a defence of Ukrainian sovereignty, and All the Kremlin's Men (2017), a critical portrait of Putin's inner circle that was a number-one bestseller in Russia for several months. In 2024, a Moscow court convicted him for his critical reporting and sentenced him to eight and a half years in prison. He now lives in exile.

Review :
An amazing book ... From Steven Spielberg on down, the filmmakers of the world should get on this story of Gorbachev and Yeltsin and all the things that could have gone in a different direction Tells the story with a mordant eye, weaving together the disintegration of Mikhail Gorbachev's reformist ambitions, the implosion of the Soviet economy and the plight of ordinary people 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 Marking an important turn in Zygar's career, The Dark Side of the Earth signals his shift from chronicler of political life to a thinker about cultural politics . . . Zygar reminds us that Russia is not some mysterious enigma, but rather a violent, nihilistic mirror of what other polities might equally become . . . Pointed, novel, and profoundly relevant This is history as experience, systems rendered through the lives they shape and often destroy . . . The Dark Side of the Earth shines 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 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 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 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 Shows definitively that some leading Russians were lionised by the West for their anti-Soviet views simply on the basis that "my enemy's enemy is my friend" rather than dealing with them in the round 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 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 This is history as it should be: written like a novel and brimming with moral urgency. An extraordinary piece of work Weaves the lives of die-hard apparatchiks with the dreams of young Russian musicians more inspired by Dylan than Dostoevsky . . . A challenging but rewarding read A book that will surely endure as the definitive account of an historic era, and serve as a timely reminder that where political systems are concerned, we should perhaps be a little more careful what we wish for. Encased within a moving personal narrative, and with an honesty and genuine wit from start to finish, The Dark Side of the Earth is a story of a country's soul, as seen through the everyday lives of its people. A work of moral urgency, Zygar cuts through the illusions, lies and blurred lines, spelling out the truth of a country that seems caught between the present and the past.