Boris Yeltsin is one of modern history?s most dynamic and underappreciated figures. In this vivid, analytical work, Herbert J. Ellison establishes Yeltsin as the principal leader and defender of Russia?s democratic revolution and the embodiment of Russia?s fragile new liberties, including the evolving respect for the rule of law and private property, as well as core freedoms of speech, religion, press, and political association.

In 1987, President Mikhail Gorbachev expelled Boris Yeltsin from his team of reform politicians. Yeltsin rebounded from this potentially devastating setback to become the leader of the Russian democratic movement and to create a new office of Russian president, to which he was elected. He also designed a democratic constitution for the Soviet Union that precipitated a coup attempt by traditionalist communist leaders, granted independence to the nations of the Soviet Union, and replaced Communist Party rule with democracy and the socialist economy with a market economy. In a short period, Yeltsin succeeded in becoming the first popularly elected leader in a thousand years of Russian history. He blocked violent attempts at counter-revolution and overcame powerful resistance to his reform program.

Ellison, who has devoted his career to observing and recording Russian and Soviet political life, asserts that Yeltsin?s achievements rank among the most extraordinary feats of political leadership in the twentieth century. This groundbreaking book will be essential to all scholars of Russia and modern European politics.

Herbert J. Ellison is a professor emeritus in the Department of History and the International Studies Program at the University of Washington.

Endorsements/Review Excerpts

'Much has been written about Yeltsin, but rarely has it been as balanced and insightful as this book. It is a much-needed, well-deserved corrective to conventional wisdom that overlooks or sells short Yeltsin's basically positive role both inside Russia and on the internationbal stage.'

'Ellison's account is, in effect, a defense of Boris Yelstsin's place in Russian history. In this, his book differs from many treatments of the period that concentrate on shortcomings in Yeltsin's administration to the exclusion, or near exclusion, of his achievements. While a great deal has been written about this period, Ellison has no rival when it comes to a presentation that is both comprehensice and concise.'

'This is not a total history of the decade but a probing investigation of presidential (and government) policy-making in three distinct major fields - domestic politics, the economy and international affairs- with enough context to make it clear what optionswere available to leaders, how they took their decisions, and why.'

Preface
Acknowledgments

Introduction / Boris Yeltsin, Russian Liberator

1. Refore or Revolution? Yeltsin and Gorbachev, 1987-1991
- From Colleagues to Rivals
- Yeltsin Builds an Opposition Program and Russian Base
- Challenging the Center
- Counterrevolution and Democratic Revolution
- Replacing the Union
- Epilogue

2. The Politics of Reform, 1991-1999
- Facing Communist Opposition
- Conflicts over Policy and Consitutional Structure
- Blocking Constitutional Reform
- Reform and Rebellion
- The New Constitutional Order
- Parliamentary and Presidential Elections
- The Final Phase of Yeltsin's Leadership: Economic and Political Crisis
- Yeltsin Seeks a Successor

3. Building A New Economy
- The Legacy of Gorbachev's Economic Reforms
- The Politics and Economics of the Yeltsin Reforms
- The Long Struggle for Agricultural Reform
- Yeltsin's Achievement in Economic Reform

4. The New Russia and the World
- Russia and the West
- Russia and East Asia
- Russia and the Other Former Soviet Republics
- An Overview of Russian Foreign Policy under Yeltsin

The Yeltsin Legacy

Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index