In the 1990s, as Russia under Yeltsin began the transition to a market economy, most American Russia-watchers saw an optimistic future ahead. In the early twenty-first century, so-called reform economic policies have left some 70 percent of Russians living near the poverty line -- many embittered, deprived of life savings, welfare subsidies, health care, and job security. What has happened in Russia since the dissolution of the Soviet Union? What led U.S. experts and the media to so seriously misjudge the situation?

Stephen F. Cohen analyzes what has gone wrong, indicting those policymakers, journalists, and academics who failed to see or report the facts that did not fit their theories. He calls for a fundamentally different American-Russian relationship, outlining a new U.S. policy that will help bring about Russia's recovery and stabilization while preventing nuclear catastrophe.