The literature on Boris Yeltsin is vast. Memoirs have been produced not only by politicians—first-hand participants in the events, Yeltsin himself penned three volumes of recollections—but also assistants, press secretaries, political analysts, journalists, MPs, retired members of Gorbachev's Politburo, public figures now long forgotten, generals of special services and security service staff. Boris Minaev started working on Boris Yeltsin's biography when the politician was still alive. In his work the author has used not only publicly accessible documents that have been printed or otherwise made accessible but also interviews that are published for the first time. In this unique biography of the first President of the Russian Federation author consistently describes events of Yeltsin's life, capturing and conveying his unique personality with all the contradictions of his character and principles that determined public attitude towards Yeltsin. Some saw him as an outstanding builder of the new Russia, others-as a destroyer of the great state. But whoever he was de facto, the decade of his rule shook the world.
