The Struggle to Save the Soviet Economy

“Miller’s work goes a great distance in bettering our knowledge and understanding of the politics behind the Soviet economic collapse.” — Reviews in History

“Using new archival material, Miller demonstrates that Gorbachev was always much weaker than many realized.” — Survival: Global Politics and Strategy

“An important contribution to our understanding of the Sino-Soviet interaction and the forces that led to the demise of the Soviet Union.” — Russian Review

“This book is clearly written and forcefully argued.” — Slavic Review

“Miller explains with great examples how the Soviet economy functioned in practice under Stalin, Brezhnev and Gorbachev; he also explains why a 'Chinese' economic miracle for the Soviet Union does not fit in, and he describes exactly the economic crisis that heralded the end of the Soviet Union.” — Tiddschrift Voor Geschiedenis

“Miller’s story is well documented and strongly argued.”—Journal of Modern History

“It is a well-researched, fluidly written, and timely book that is sure to leave its mark on the historiography.” — H-Diplo

“Miller helps readers understand why communism survived in China but encountered an abrupt and amazing collapse in the former Soviet Union. Highly recommended.” — CHOICE

“Miller brings together politics, ideology, and, most importantly, economics to explain one of the most dramatic and consequential developments in recent history — the fall of the Soviet Union and the rise of China. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in not only the history of the Cold War, but also the future of the world that awaits us.” — Serhii Plokhii, author of The Last Empire: The Final Days of the Soviet Union

"The Soviet collapse was the unexpected denouement of the ‘short 20th century,’ but Miller shows that it was not something willed by Mikhail Gorbachev alone. Rather, the powerful vested interests that resisted fiscal reform — the military and the KGB, the collective farm lobby, and the energy industry — were the real causes of the Russian Katastrophe. This is a meticulous autopsy on homo sovieticus.” — Niall Ferguson, author of The War of the World: Twentieth-Century Conflict and the Descent of the West