Summary of Stephen Kotkin's Armageddon Averted

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 The oil crisis of the 1970s showed just how dependent the American and Western European economies were on oil. The Arab nations suddenly decided to cut back on oil production, which caused prices to skyrocket. #2 The 1970s saw a wrenching changeover in American industries, which left an indelible mark on the culture and popular psyche. The increases in oil prices in the 1970s crystallized larger trends. #3 From 1910 to 1950, Russian production rose fourfold. But from 1973 to 1985, energy exports accounted for 80 percent of the USSR’s expanding hard currency earnings. #4 The Soviet economy was very good at putting up a rust belt, and it was very bad at taking it down. Russia was not able to overcome its unprecedentedly large industrial junk heap because it lacked the institutions that make markets work.