Moscow's Heavy Shadow tells the story of the collapse of the USSR from the perspective of the many millions of Soviet citizens who experienced it as a period of abjection and violence. Mikhail Gorbachev and the leaders of the USSR saw the years of reform preceding the collapse as opportunities for rebuilding (perestroika), rejuvenation, and openness (glasnost). For those in provincial cities across the Soviet Union, however, these reforms led to rapid change, economic collapse, and violence.

Focusing on Dushanbe, Tajikistan, Isaac McKean Scarborough describes how this city experienced skyrocketing unemployment, a depleted budget, and streets filled with angry young men unable to support their families. Tajikistan was left without financial or military resources, unable and unprepared to stand against the wave of populist politicians of all stripes who took advantage of the economic collapse and social discontent to try to gain power. By May 1992, political conflict became violent and bloody and engulfed the whole of Tajikistan in war. Moscow's Heavy Shadow tells the story of how this war came to be, and how it was grounded in the reform and collapse of the Soviet economy that came before.

Moscow's Heavy Shadow provides the most detailed and complete portrait of prewar Tajikistan available in the English-language literature.

Moscow's Heavy Shadow is a major accomplishment that not only illuminates the origins of the Civil War in Tajikistan but sheds new light on the complex ways that Mikhail Gorbachev's reforms played out throughout the USSR.

An immersive and insightful scholarly work...exemplifies the exceptional breadth and depth of the author's research.

Lucidly and engagingly written, with short, exciting chapters that almost make it into a novel. A tremendously important book.

Scarborough's approach is as unconventional as it is impressive...a thrilling and unsettling read.

Using an impressive variety of primary sources, including interviews, memoirs, newspapers, and archival documents in Russian and Tajik, Scarborough conducts a detailed investigation of the last years of the USSR in Tajikistan and the reasons for the Tajik Civil War (1992–97)...These insights help readers better assess post-Soviet conflicts and call for researchers to conduct more comparative work.

Vera Michlin-Shapir, Kings College London, author of Fluid Russia:

Moscow's Heavy Shadow is a beautifully written book that presents insights into the economy, society and political culture of late-Soviet Tajikistan as well as a captivating narrative of how these trends fit into the broader Union-wide story of failed attempts to reform the Soviet state and economy.