Few leaders have had as profound an effect on their time as Mikhail S. Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union, who died this week at 91.
It was not Mr. Gorbachev’s intention to liquidate the Soviet empire when he came to power in 1985. But after little more than six tumultuous years, he had lifted the Iron Curtain and presided over the dissolution o ... Show More
Mar 22
Injections, Bone Hammering and the Pursuit of Peak Male Beauty
If you’ve spent any time on social media recently, you’ve probably come across a video of a young, square-jawed influencer calling himself Clavicular. He has become the face of an internet subculture called looksmaxxing, in which men do almost anything — like taking steroids and ... Show More
37m 53s
Sep 2022
Mikhail Gorbachev: Perestroika
Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union, has died aged 91. Gorbachev came to power in 1985 at a time when the Soviet economy was on the brink of collapse. He introduced a radical reform programme called Perestroika. 25 years on from Perestroika, in 2012, Louise Hid ... Show More
10m 21s
Sep 2022
The legacy of Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union, has died at the age of 91 in Moscow. He was credited with bringing the Cold War to a peaceful end and ushering in an era of openness and reform in the Soviet Union, which ultimately led to its collapse. Emily Tamkin in Washi ... Show More
28m 2s
Feb 2022
The demise of the Soviet Union
In December 1991 the leaders of three Soviet Republics - Russia, Ukraine and Belarus - signed a treaty dissolving the USSR. They did so without asking the other republics, and against the wishes of the USSR's overall President Mikhail Gorbachev. By the end of the year, Gorbachev ... Show More
9m 2s
Aug 2022
How Russia sees itself, with Orlando Figes
As Russia’s war on Ukraine continues, the historian Orlando Figes’s latest book considers how Russia and its rulers see the country.
He speaks to Alix Kroeger about why his book is called The Story of Russia, rather than The History of Russia, what drives Vladimir Putin and the l ... Show More
23m 58s