In February 1945, three prominent figures of the twentieth century – Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Joseph Stalin – met in Yalta, a resort on the Black Sea, as their armies converged on Berlin. Their views on how the post-war world should be structured varied greatly. During the eight historic days of the conference, they divided Germany, approved the most intense bombing campaign in history, redrew the borders of Eastern Europe, and created a new international organization to manage future disputes.

Two months later, Roosevelt was dead, Stalin was solidifying his dominance in Poland, and Churchill was heading towards a humiliating electoral defeat. Since then, opinions have remained extremely divided regarding their achievements. Did Yalta lead to the Cold War? Did the ailing Roosevelt give too much to Stalin?

S. M. Plokhy, one of the most important historians of our time and a professor at Harvard University, offers a groundbreaking book that draws material from previously secret Soviet documents. “The end of the Cold War gave scholars an opportunity to approach those eight momentous days of February 1945 from a more detached perspective. It is hard to imagine who could do it better than Plokhy.” The Wall Street Journal.

“S. M. Plokhy provides a captivating narrative of the eight days of February 1945 based on extensive and multifaceted research.” The Boston Globe.

“This book will become the definitive landmark on the subject.” The Ukrainian Weekly.

“Plokhy masterfully employs Soviet sources to demonstrate that Yalta was anything but the diplomatic defeat of the West that Cold War literature so often describes. A thorough and gripping account.” Publishers Weekly.

“In this exceptionally penetrating book, Plokhy presents perhaps the most controversial and misunderstood summit of modern times and separates, based on new Soviet documents, myth from reality.” Jon Meacham (Pulitzer Prize winner).

“Yalta is based on meticulous research and presents in extraordinary detail the personalities and politics that composed one of the most significant and most misunderstood political meetings of the twentieth century.” Anne Applebaum (Pulitzer Prize winner).

“His thorough and balanced account can be a decisive factor in dispelling the misunderstandings and distortions surrounding the conference.” Antony Beevor.

“An exceptionally enlightening and important book, not only in relation to the history of Yalta and the role played there by Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill, but also in relation to the geopolitics of tomorrow: as you read the book, simply replace the name Stalin with one that has the same ending, and Poland with Ukraine.” Zbigniew Brzezinski, former U.S. National Security Advisor and author of America and the World.

“Yalta is a wonderfully detailed book, with excellent documentation and fair-minded argumentation. This is an outstanding historical work that debunks many myths surrounding the conference.” Robert Dallek, author of An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy, 1917-1963.

Cover photo: Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin at the Yalta conference (U.S. National Archives, photo no. 111-SC-260486).