Revolution 1989: the Fall of the Soviet Empire / Victor Sebestyen

'A compelling and illuminating account of a great drama in the history of our times which showed once again that ordinary men and women really can change the world.' - Mail on Sunday.

For more than 40 years after the Second World War the Iron Curtain divided Europe physically, with 300 km of walls and barbed wire fences; ideologically, between communism and capitalism; psychologically, between people imprisoned under totalitarian dictatorships and their neighbours enjoying democratic freedoms.

When the Berlin Wall fell on a chilly November night it seemed as though the open wounds of the cruel twentieth century would at last begin to heal. The Year of Revolutions appeared as a beacon of hope for oppressed people elsewhere who dared to dream that they too could free themselves.

In a dizzying few months of almost entirely peaceful revolutions the people s will triumphed over tyranny. An entire way of life was swept away. Now, twenty years on, Victor Sebestyen reassesses this decisive moment in modern history.