About the Author

Ellen Mickiewicz is the James R. Shepley Professor of Public Policy Studies and Director of the De Witt Wallace Center for Communications and Journalism at Duke University. Her many books include the award-winning Split Signals: Television and Politics in the Soviet Union (1988) and Media and the Russian Republic (1981). She was the first American to be honored by the Journalists Union of Russia for her contribution to democratic
media in the region.

Reviews

"For those who care about Russia's stormy evolution from dictatorship to democracy, here is an important story--the first extensive account of the crucially important revolution in Moscow television since 1985. From first-hand interviews with key figures, Ellen Mickiewicz has pieced together the inside story of repeated confrontations between Gorbachev, Yeltsin and the late Soviet leaders, and the daring correspondents, producers and anchors who dared to defy
the Kremlin at such pivotal moments as the break-away of the Baltics, the August 1991 coup, the storming of Moscow TV in 1993, and the war in Chechnya. With encyclopedic detail, Michiewicz shows how the
development of democracy in Russian has depended on the end of censorship and will continue to depend on a new spirit of political independence among Moscow's now-multiple TV networks. --Hedrick Smith, author, The New Russians
"From the days when Leonid Brezhnev clung to power through the tumult of Mikhail Gorbachev and the election victories of Boris Yeltsin, Russian leaders have struggled over the control of television. In this fine and penetrating book, Ellen Mickiewicz traces those struggles and examines the larger question still ahead: whether a free and independent television can emerge that will bolster prospects for a stable, democratic nation. No one else has better captured
this important saga."--David Gergen, Editor at Large, U.S. News & World Report
"This book will enthrall and enlighten its readers with its vivid revelations of political stratagems by politicians and journalists and its clear analysis of the implications for Russia specifically and, more generally, for television's roles and problems when authoritarian regimes move towards democracy. This is a definitive study, based on lengthy interviews with the movers and shakers in the world of politics and television by a brilliant
participant/observer of the momentous changes-in-the-making."--Doris A. Graber, Professor of Political Science, The University of Illinois at Chicago.
"This book will enthrall and enlighten its readers with its vivid revelations of political stratagems by politicians and journalists and its clear analysis of the implications for Russia specifically and, more generally, for television's roles and problems when authoritarian regimes move towards democracy. This is a definitive study, based on lengthy interviews with the movers and shakers in the world of politics and television by a brilliant
participant/observer of the momentous changes-in-the-making."--Doris A. Graber, Professor of Political Science, The University of Illinois at Chicago.
"For those who care about Russia's stormy evolution from dictatorship to democracy, here is an important story--the first extensive account of the crucially important revolution in Moscow television since 1985. From first-hand interviews with key figures, Ellen Mickiewicz has pieced together the inside story of repeated confrontations between Gorbachev, Yeltsin and the late Soviet leaders, and the daring correspondents, producers and anchors who dared to defy
the Kremlin at such pivotal moments as the break-away of the Baltics, the August 1991 coup, the storming of Moscow TV in 1993, and the war in Chechnya. With encyclopedic detail, Michiewicz shows how the
development of democracy in Russian has depended on the end of censorship and will continue to depend on a new spirit of political independence among Moscow's now-multiple TV networks. --Hedrick Smith, author, The New Russians
"From the days when Leonid Brezhnev clung to power through the tumult of Mikhail Gorbachev and the election victories of Boris Yeltsin, Russian leaders have struggled over the control of television. In this fine and penetrating book, Ellen Mickiewicz traces those struggles and examines the larger question still ahead: whether a free and independent television can emerge that will bolster prospects for a stable, democratic nation. No one else has better captured
this important saga."--David Gergen, Editor at Large, U.S. News & World Report
"Ellen Mickiewicz's No Illusions is a prescient look into the minds -- and hearts -- of Russia's future leaders. The chance to hear the frank voices of these Russians on the path to power cannot have come at a more critical moment for the West. The book is a gift to those who want to know what is looming in an emergent and complex Russia." --Alex S. Jones, Director of the Shorenstein Center on the Media, Politics and Public Policy at the Harvard
Kennedy School