From Cold War to hot peace - Michael McFaul

A revelatory, behind-the-scenes account of Russian-American relations, from a former US ambassador and 'Obama's top White House advisor on Russia policy' (The New York Times)

In
2008, when Michael McFaul was asked to leave his perch at Stanford and
join President-elect Barack Obama's national security team, he had no
idea that he would find himself at the beating heart of one of today's
most contentious international relationships. McFaul had been studying
and visiting Russia for decades, becoming one of America's preeminent
scholars on the country during the first Putin era.

During
President Obama's first term, McFaul helped craft the policy known as
"Reset," which fostered unprecedented collaboration between the two
countries under Dmitry Medvedev's presidency. Later, as U.S. ambassador
from 2012 to 2014, he witnessed firsthand how Vladimir Putin's new rise
interrupted this era of cooperation and returned Russian-American
relations to a level of hostility not known since the darkest days of
the Cold War. From the outset of his ambassadorship, the Kremlin accused
McFaul of being sent by Obama to foment revolution against Putin's
regime.

This resulting insider's account - uniquely combining
history, politics and intimate personal knowledge of the corridors of
power - takes us from Putin's dacha to ornate Kremlin chambers and the
Oval Office, to explain how Russia really works, and why the world has
entered a dangerous new era of confrontation.