Taking the achievements, ambiguities, and legacies of World War II as a point of departure, The Shadow of War: The Soviet Union and Russia, 1941 to the Present offers a fresh new approach to modern Soviet and Russian history. * Presents one of the only histories of the Soviet Union and Russia that begins with World War II and goes beyond the Soviet collapse through to the early twenty-first century * Innovative thematic arrangement and approach allows for insights that are missed in chronological histories * Draws on a wide range of sources and the very latest research on post-Soviet history, a rapidly developing field * Supported by further reading, bibliography, maps and illustrations.