rule, see M. McCauley (ed.), Communist Power in
Europe, 1944–49(Macmillan, 1977), a collection of
essays. There are good studies of individual countries: J.
Korbel, Twentieth Century Czechoslovakia: The
Meanings of its History(Columbia, 1977); H. G.
Skilling, Czechoslovakia’s Interrupted Revolution
(Princeton, 1976); and Alexander Dubcek’s own mem-
oirs (HarperCollins, 1992) for the stirring events of
the Prague Spring and Soviet intervention in 1968.
The origins of the 1989 revolution are recounted
in H. G. Skilling, Charter 77 and Human Rights in
Czechoslovakia(Allen & Unwin, 1981). For Poland see
N. Davies, God’s Playground: A History of Poland(2
vols, Columbia, 1981); N, Ascherson, The Polish
August* (Penguin, 1981), for the workers’ protests in
1980–1 and the birth of Solidarity. The years of grow-
ing crises are covered in P. G. Lewis, Political Authoriry
and Part Secretaries in Poland, 1975–1983(Cambridge,
1989); see also T. Garton-Ash, The Polish Revolution:
Solidarity(Cape, 1983). For Yugoslavia before the
civil war, S. Pavlowitch, The Improbable Survivor:
Yugoslavia and its Problems (Hurst, 1988).
Break-up of the Soviet Union and
Eastern Europe
A good starting point is the study by Z. Brzezinski, The
Grand Failure: The Birth and Death of Communism in
the Twentieth Century(Scribner’s, 1989). The book,
completed in August 1988, foretold that communism
was in terminal crisis and that the ‘reform’ of commu-
nism would fail. Even so perceptive an observer, how-
ever, could not forecast future events with complete
accuracy: he concluded that East Germany; Romania,
China and North Korea were not in crisis, which turned
out to be true for China only and but partially. With
East and central European history changing so rapidly,
books soon became out of date. Of particular value is
Mikhail Gorbachev’s Perestroika: New Thinking for our
Country and the World* (Collins, 1988), setting out
his hopes and intentions; two especially valuable studies
are S. White, Gorbachev in Power* (Cambridge, 1990)
and R. Sakwa, Gorbachev and his Reforms, 1985–1990*
(Philip Alan, 1990), which contains an extensive bibli-
ography. A stimulating overview is the book of the BBC
Television series, Angus Roxburgh, The Second Russian
Revolution: The Struggle for Power in the Kremlin(BBC
Publications, 1991). An analysis of issues and problems
can be found in A. Jones and D. E. Powell (eds), Soviet
Update, 1989–1990(Harvard, 1991). Fundamental to
an understanding of the Soviet Union is G. Smith (ed.),
The Nationalities Question in the Soviet Union*
(Longman, 1990). The revolutions in Eastern and
Central Europe are examined in J. Batt, East Central
Europe from Reform to Transformation* (Royal Insti-
tute for International Affairs, 1991) and in K. Dawisha,
Eastern Europe, Gorbachev, and Reform* (2nd edn,
Cambridge, 1990). M. Glenny, The Rebirth of History:
Eastern Europe in the Age of Democracy* (Penguin,
1990) is an account based on personal experiences by
the BBC correspondent. The last period of the unloved
German Democratic Republic is chronicled in a collec-
tion of documents from secret archives: A. Mitter and S.
Wolle, Ich liebe euch dock alle! Befehle und Lageberichte
des MFS Januar-November 1989(Basis Druck, 1990).
Eastern and Central Europe is the subject of a number
of new books: K. Williams, The Prague Spring and Its
Aftermath (Cambridge, 1997); for the wars in
Yugoslavia, M. Glenny, The Fall of Yugoslavia(3rd edn,
Penguin, 1996), and, outstandingly informative, L.
Silber and A. Little, The Death of Yugoslavia* (revised
edn, Penguin, 1996).
18 THE MIDDLE EAST
Good overviews are P. Mansfield, A History of the
Middle East* (Penguin, 1992) and the same author’s
The Arabs* (5th edn, Penguin, 1992); M. E. Yapp, The
Near East since the First World War* (Longman, 1991);
W. R. Polk, The Arab World* (4th edn, Harvard, 1980);
D. Hiro, Inside the Middle East* (Routledge & Kegan
Paul, 1982); E. Kedourie, Politics in the Middle East*
(Oxford, 1992); A. H. Hourani, The Emergence of the
Modern Middle East(Macmillan, 1981); and the same
author’s A History of the Arab People* (Faber & Faber,
1991).
P. J. Vatikotis, History of Modern Egypt: From
Muhammad Ali to Sadat* (4th edn, Weidenfeld &
Nicolson, 1991); D. Hopwood, Egypt: Politics and
Society, 1945–1992(3rd edn, Routledge, 1992); A.
McDermott, Egypt from Nasser to Mubarak: A Flawed
Revolution(Chapman & Hall, 1988).
Lord Kinross, Atatürk: The Rebirth of a Nation*
(Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1990), readable and informa-
tive; B. Lewis, The Emergence of Modern Turkey(2nd
edn, Oxford, 1968); I. C. Schick and E. A. Tonak (eds),
Turkey in Transition: New Perspectives, 1923 to the
Present(Oxford, NY, 1986).
N. R. Keddie, The Roots of Revolution: An Interpretive
History of Modern Iran* (Yale, 1981); D. Hiro, Iran
under the Ayatollas* (Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1985);
F. Halliday, Iran: Dictatorship and Development (2nd
edn, Penguin, 1979).
D. Hopwood, Syria, 1945–1986: Politics and Society*
(Routledge, 1991); P. Scale, The Struggle for Syria: A
Study in Post-War Arab Politics (2nd edn, Yale, 1987);
and, by the same author, Asad of Syria: The Struggle for
the Middle East* (California, 1989).
K. Salibi, The Modern History of Lebanon(Weidenfeld
& Nicolson, 1977); H. Cobban, The Making of Modern
Lebanon* (Hutchinson, 1985).
P. Sluglett and M. Farouk-Sluglett, Iraq since 1958:
From Revolution to Dictatorship* (I. B. Tauris, 1991);
R. Lacey, The Kingdom* (Avon, 1983), a history of
1
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