figures, published in Russia predominantly within the past decade. The authors discussed include President of the Soviet Union and Secretary General of the CPSU Mikhail Gorbachev, his closest aides Anatoli Chernyayev and Andrei Grachov, writer and former dissident Alexandr Zinovyev, KGB chief Vladimir Kryuchkov, retired KGB General Vyacheslav Shironin, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union Nikolai Ryzhkov, the first government head of the Russian Federation Yegor Gaidar, prominent politicians and members of the Russian State Duma Dmitri Rogozin and Alexei Mitrofanov. The imperialistic nostalgia that has been rearing its head in Russia recently has made a substantial impact on political memoirs. Two contrasting opinions prevail as regards the debacle of the Soviet Union: (1) the downfall of the empire re- presented a natural course of events, and the Soviet Union ought to have been
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