This exciting narrative by a well-regarded historian is ideal for one-semester courses in Modern Russia and Soviet History, as well as for the second half of full-year surveys of Russian history. Offering a post-Soviet perspective, this clear, balanced, and engaging account of Russian history in the twentieth century gracefully interweaves political, social, cultural, and intellectual themes. Unlike most Soviet-centered histories, A Vision Unfulfilled begins with a chapter summarizing late nineteenth-century Russian history, allowing instructors to begin their course with 1894, 1905, 1914, or 1917. Treatment of the Soviet period is exceptionally even-handed. The book also gives fuller attention to the history of the non-Russian populations in the tsarist and Soviet empires than other texts of its kind.