{"title":"Rodric Braithwaite","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"moscow-1941-book-rodric-braithwaite-9781400095452","title":"Moscow 1941","description":"The 1941 Battle of Moscow-unquestionably one of the most decisive battles of World War I-marked the first strategic defeat of the German armed forces in their seemingly unstoppable march across Europe. The Soviets lost many more people in this one battle than the British and Americans lost in the whole of the Second World War. Now, with authority and narrative power, Rodric Braithwaite tells the story in large part through the individual experiences of ordinary Russian men and women. The narrative is set firmly against the background of Moscow and its people, beginning in early 1941, when the Soviet Union was still untouched by the war raging to the west. We see how-despite a mass of secret intelligence-the breaching of the border by the Wehrmacht in June took the country by surprise, and how, when the Germans pushed to Moscow in November, the Red Army and the capital's inhabitants undertook to defend their city, finally, in the winter of 1941-1942, turning the Germans back on the city's very outskirts. Braithwaite's dramatic, richly illustrated narrative of the military action offers telling portraits of Stalin and his generals. By interweaving the personal remembrances of soldiers, politicians, writers, artists, workers, and schoolchildren, he gives us an unprecedented understanding of how the war affected the daily life of Moscow and of the extraordinary bravery, endurance, and sacrifice-both voluntary and involuntary-that was required of its citizens.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49700718706961,"sku":"CIN140009545XG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51024420602129,"sku":"NIN9781400095452","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51324302819601,"sku":"CIN140009545XVG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51575975837969,"sku":"GOR009525126","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":52816455631121,"sku":"CIN140009545XA","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/140009545X.jpg?v=1751337309"},{"product_id":"across-the-moscow-river-book-rodric-braithwaite-9780300094961","title":"Across the Moscow River","description":"Rodric Braithwaite was British ambassador to Moscow during the critical years of Perestroika and the collapse of the Soviet Union, the failed coup of August 1991, and the rise of Boris Yeltsin. From the vantage point of the British Embassy (once the mansion of the great 19th-century merchant Pavel Kharitonenko) with its commanding views across the Moscow River to Red Square and the Kremlin, Braithwaite had a ringside seat. With his long experience of Russia, as Margaret Thatcher's ambassador, on good personal terms with Mikhail Gorbachev, he was in a privileged position close to the centre of Russia's changing relationship with the West. But this is not primarily a memoir. It is an intimate account of momentous change and the people who drove it, against the background of Russia's long history and its unique but essentially European culture. Braithwaite watched as Gorbachev and his allies struggled to modernise and democratise a system which had already reached the point of terminal decay. Against the opposition of the generals, they forced the abandonment of the nuclear option, and as the Soviet Empire fell apart a demoralised army crept home from Afghanistan, from Eastern Europe, and eventually from the outlying parts of the Soviet Union itself. The apex of the drama came in August 1991 when a miscellaneous gang of generals, politicians, and secret policemen, converging outside Moscow's White House, attempted to reverse the course of history and succeeded only in accelerating the collapse of the Soviet Union. Braithwaite left Moscow with Russia at its lowest ebb, grappling with the problems of an unfamiliar market economy on its uncertain path towards becoming a modern liberal state. This is an account of one of the 20th century's most dramatic reversals of fortune.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50097661346065,"sku":"CIN0300094965G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50326830154001,"sku":"GOR002751992","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51323169997073,"sku":"CIN0300094965VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":52816828563729,"sku":"CIN0300094965A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0300094965.jpg?v=1751419636"},{"product_id":"russia-book-rodric-braithwaite-9781639362882","title":"Russia","description":"\u003cb\u003eAn expert historian and former ambassador to Moscow unlocks fact from fiction to reveal what lies at the root of the Russian story.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eChurchill remarked that Russia is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. That has become an excuse for intellectual laziness. Russia is not all that different from anywhere else. But you have to disentangle the facts from the myths created both by the Russians themselves and by those who dislike them.\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn this dynamic new history, Rodric Braithwaite--Russia expert and former ambassador to Moscow--does exactly that, unpicking fact from fiction to discover what lies at the root of the Russian story. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eRussia is the largest country in the world, with the largest arsenal of nuclear weapons. Over a thousand years this multifaceted nation of shifting borders has been known as Rus, Muscovy, the Russian Empire, and the Soviet Union. Thirty years ago it was reinvented as the Russian Federation. Like the rest of us, the Russians constantly rewrite their history. They, too, omit episodes of national disgrace in favor of patriotic anecdotes, sometimes more rooted in myth than reality. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eRussia is not an enigma, but its past is violent, tragic, sometimes glorious, and always complicated.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50164816019729,"sku":"CIN1639362886G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50625868923153,"sku":"GOR014015892","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50978478162193,"sku":"CIN1639362886VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51042523316497,"sku":"NIN9781639362882","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51086182056209,"sku":"GOR014173471","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1639362886.jpg?v=1750721537"},{"product_id":"across-the-moscow-river-book-rodric-braithwaite-9780300204186","title":"Across the Moscow River","description":"Rodric Braithwaite was British ambassador to Moscow during the critical years of perestroika and the collapse of the Soviet Union, the failed coup of August 1991, and the rise of Boris Yeltsin. With his long experience of Russia, on good personal terms with Mikhail Gorbachev, he was in a privileged position close to the center of Russia’s changing relationship with the West.  This frank and engrossing book gives an intimate account of momentous change and the people who drove it. As the Soviet Empire fell apart a demoralized army crept home from Afghanistan, Eastern Europe, and the outlying parts of the Soviet Union itself. Against the opposition of the generals, Gorbachev and his allies struggled to modernize and democratize a system that had already reached the point of terminal decay. The apex of the drama came in August 1991 when a gang of generals, politicians, and secret policemen sought—by storming Moscow’s White House—to reverse the course of history.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52141586678033,"sku":"NLS9780300204186","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9780300204186.jpg?v=1757577648"},{"product_id":"rusia-mituri-si-realitati-book-rodric-braithwaite-9786060887812","title":"Rusia. Mituri Si Realitati","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53117189521681,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53117189914897,"sku":"GOR014734655","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9786060887812.jpg?v=1770806730"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/collections\/author-books-by-rodric-braithwaite.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}