A prominent Russian politician who served as prime minister, foreign minister, and head of foreign intelligence during the 1990s, Yevgeny Primakov has been part of all vital decisions on Russian domestic and foreign policy for the past two decades. His memoir is both an insider's account of post-perestroika Russian politics and a statement from a representative of the enlightened Russian establishment on their nation's relationship with America and the world. Primakov is a specialist in the Middle East, and his personal involvement in the problems of that region make his commentary particularly valuable as he articulates Russia's view of the conflicts there and its stance toward Iraq, Israel, and Palestine. Primakov also offers pertinent opinions on the Gulf War, NATO enlargement, spying, and other aspects of contemporary international relations, and he gives personal assessments of a wide variety of major players, from Saddam Hussein and Yassir Arafat to Madeleine Albright and Bill Clinton. Providing behind-the-scenes information about government shakeups in Moscow, the history of speculative privatizations, the formation of the new political and economic oligarchy, and much more, this book will be an invaluable aid to political analysts, historians, and anyone interested in Russia's recent past and future plans.

Yevgeny Primakov is currently president of the Chamber of Commerce of the Russian Federation.

'[Primakov's] credentials and experiences serve as an excellent basis from which to comment on Russia during the first turbulent decade of its transformation. ... In particular, he offers important personal insights into the nature of Russian politics...[and] challenges most conventional accounts and interpretations... Primakov's volume adds to our knowledge of high level politics in the late Soviet and early post-Soviet period.' - P Lentini, Slavonic and East European Review