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• The Soviet Jewry movement in America : an historical perspective
• The Soviet Jewry movement before 1985 : Gorbachev and the promise of a new chapter for Soviet Jews
• The United States government and the Soviet Jewry movement in America : Bush, Reagan, Congress and the Department of State
• Tactics and strategy of the Soviet Jewry movement : loud voices or quiet diplomacy?
• American Jewry chooses : aliya to Israel or rescue to America
• The last months : emigration becomes reality.

Between 1967 and 1991, almost half of the entire Jewish population of the Soviet Union left for freedom to Israel, America, and other western countries. "From Exodus to Freedom The History of the Soviet Jewry Movement" tells the story of the American Jewish community's involvement in this exodus, and is the first of its kind to explore how such a massive emigration occurred for a population virtually written-off by world Jewry as doomed just two decades before.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Part One. Revolutions, Ideas, and the End of the Soviet Union: 1. The "mystery" of the Soviet collapse and the theory of revolutions; For truth and goodness: the credos of glasnost --Part Two. Who Are We?:Inside the "deafened zone"; In search of history; "The innocent, the slandered, the exterminated"; The peasant hecatomb; The unraveling of the legitimizing myths, I: food, housing, medical care, the "golden childhood", and the standard of living; The unraveling of the legitimizing myths, II: progress, the "state of workers and peasants", equality, "freedom from exploitation", Novocherkassk; The unraveling of the legitimizing myths, III: the Great Patriotic War; The "immoral" economy; The "disintegration of souls": homo sovieticus
• Part Three.Who is to blame?: The house that Stalin built: the master state and its political economy; De-individualization, the "original sin", and the nationalization of conscience
• Part Four. What Is to be Done?: Stalin, memory, repentance, atonement; The "spirit of freedom" and the power of nyet; The freedom canon: Mandelstam, Dombrovsky, Solzhenitsyn, Platonov, Grossman; In man's image, I: "privatizing" the state and economy; In man's image, II: the empire, the "garrison state", and the world
• Epilogue.

Leon Aron considers the "mystery of the Soviet collapse" and finds answers in the intellectual and moral self-scrutiny of glasnost that brought about a profound shift in values. Reviewing the entire output of the key glasnost outlets in 1987-1991, he elucidates and documents key themes in this national soul-searching and the "ultimate" questions that sparked moral awakening of a great nation: "Who are we? How do we live honorably? What is a dignified relationship between man and state? How do we atone for the moral breakdown of Stalinism?" Contributing both to the theory of revolutions and history of ideas, Aron presents a thorough and original narrative about new ideas' dissemination through the various media of the former Soviet Union. Aron shows how, reaching every corner of the nation, these ideas destroyed the moral foundation of the Soviet state, de-legitimized it and made its collapse inevitable.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• ""Cover""; ""CONTENTS""; ""ACKNOWLEDGMENTS""; ""INTRODUCTION""; ""PART ONE: REVOLUTIONS, IDEAS, AND THE END OF THE SOVIET UNION""; ""1 The “Mysteryâ€? of the Soviet Collapse and the Theory of Revolutions""; ""2 For Truth and Goodness: The Credos of Glasnost""; ""PART TWO: ĐšTO Mб? WHO ARE WE?""; ""3 Inside the “Deafened Zoneâ€?""; ""4 In Search of History""; ""5 “The Innocent, the Slandered, the Exterminatedâ€?""; ""6 The Peasant Hecatomb""; ""7 The Unraveling of the Legitimizing Myths, I: Food, Housing, Medical Care, the “Golden Childhood, â€? and the Standard of Living""

• ""8 The Unraveling of the Legitimizing Myths, II: Progress, the “State of Workers and Peasants, â€? Equality, “Freedom from Exploitation, â€? Novocherkassk""""9 The Unraveling of the Legitimizing Myths, III: The Great Patriotic War""; ""10 The “Immoralâ€? Economy""; ""11 The “Disintegration of Soulsâ€?: Homo Sovieticus""; ""PART THREE: ĐšTO BĐ?HOBAT? WHO IS TO BLAME?""; ""12 The House That Stalin Built: The Master State and Its Political Economy""; ""13 “De-individualization, â€? the “Original Sin, â€? and the Nationalization of Conscience""

• ""PART FOUR: ĐTO Đ?EĐ?ATĐƠ? WHAT IS TO BE DONE?""""14 Stalin, Memory, Repentance, Atonement""; ""15 The “Spirit of Freedomâ€? and the Power of Nyet""; ""16 The Freedom Canon: Mandelstam, Dombrovsky, Solzhenitsyn, Platonov, Grossman""; ""17 In Manâ€?s Image, I: “Privatizingâ€? the State and Economy""; ""18 In Manâ€?s Image, II: The Empire, the “Garrison State, â€? and the World""; ""Epilogue""; ""GLASNOSTâ€?S SIGNPOSTS: THE THEMES AND THE TEXTS""; ""GLASNOSTâ€?S TROUBADOURS""; ""NOTES""; ""BIBLIOGRAPHY""; ""INDEX""; ""A""; ""B""; ""C""; ""D""; ""E""; ""F""; ""G""; ""H""; ""I""; ""J""

• ""K""""l""; ""m""; ""n""; ""o""; ""p""; ""r""; ""s""; ""t""; ""u""; ""v""; ""w""; ""y""; ""z""

• Frontmatter
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Part One: Revolutions, Ideas, and the End of the Soviet Union
• 1. The "Mystery" of the Soviet Collapse and the Theory of Revolutions
• 2. For Truth and Goodness: The Credos of Glasnost
• Part Two: Кto МыWho are We-- 3. Inside the "Deafened Zone"
• 4. In Search of History
• 5. "The Innocent, the Slandered, the Exterminated"
• 6. The Peasant Hecatomb
• 7. The Unraveling of the Legitimizing Myths, I: Food, Housing, Medical Care, the "Golden Childhood, " and the Standard of Living
• 8. The Unraveling of the Legitimizing Myths, II: Progress, the "State of Workers and Peasants, " Equality, "Freedom from Exploitation, " Novocherkassk
• 9. The Unraveling of the Legitimizing Myths, III: The Great Patriotic War
• 10. The "Immoral" Economy
• 11. The "Disintegration of Souls": Homo Sovieticus
• Part Three: Кto ВиhobatWho Is to Blame-- 12. The House That Stalin Built: The Master State and its Political Economy
• 13. "De-individualization, " the "Original Sin, " and the Nationalization of Conscience
• Part Four: Чto ДелатьWhat Is to Be Done-- 14. Stalin, Memory, Repentance, Atonement
• 15. The "Spirit of Freedom" and the Power of Nyet
• 16. The Freedom Canon: Mandelstam, Dombrovsky, Solzhenitsyn, Platonov, Grossman
• 17. In Man's Image, I: "Privatizing" the State and Economy
• 18. In Man's Image, II: The Empire, the "Garrison State, " and the World
• Epilogue
• Glasnost's Signposts: The Themes and the Texts
• Glasnost's Troubadours
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index.

Leon Aron considers the "mystery of the Soviet collapse" and finds answers in the intellectual and moral self-scrutiny of glasnost that brought about a profound shift in values. Reviewing the entire output of the key glasnost outlets in 1987-1991, he elucidates and documents key themes in this national soul-searching and the "ultimate" questions that sparked moral awakening of a great nation: "Who are we? How do we live honorably? What is a dignified relationship between man and state? How do we atone for the moral breakdown of Stalinism?"Contributing both to the theory of revolutions and history of ideas, Aron presents a thorough and original narrative about new ideas' dissemination through the various media of the former Soviet Union. Aron shows how, reaching every corner of the nation, these ideas destroyed the moral foundation of the Soviet state, de-legitimized it and made its collapse inevitable. .

• Introduction: When Countries Die and Are Reborn - The Soviet Political-Economic System and the Nature of Politics - Political Culture: History, Revolution and Reform - Unravelling the Paradox of the Soviet Union: The Legacy of Empire in the Era of the Nation-State - Ethnicity, Nationalism and Nation-Building - The Mythology of the Soviet Union - The Foundation and Legacy of the Soviet Command Economy: How It Worked and Why It Failed - The Perilous Transition from a Command to a Market Economy - The Breakup of the Soviet Union and the Search for Democracy - The Transition from Absolutism to ... What? - Heirs to Empire: Regional Politics in Eurasia - The Soviet Successor States and the New World Order - Rebuilding.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

The Soviet Union is dead and the part of Eurasia which was once the USSR now comprises a host of states each with its own characteristics and problems. This book is an attempt to reassess the character of the Soviet state with the benefit of hindsight and to understand the significance of its collapse and what the world can expect from its successor states.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• CONTENTS INTRODUCTION
• PART I. MODERNITY AND MYTH
• CHAPTER 1. Modernity and Its Projects
• Modernity, Colonization, and Globalization
• Multiple Modernities and Cultural Hybridization
• Modernization through Internal Colonization
• The Myth of Enlightenment
• CHAPTER 2. Deconstructing Mythologies
• Roland Barthes's Mythologies
• The Schizophrenia of the Network
• The Idea of Framing
• Frame Analysis of Modernization Myths
• PART II. SOVIET MODERNITY
• CHAPTER 3. The Rise and Fall of an Alternative Project
• Great Transformation
• Stagnation and Gorbachev Reforms
• CHAPTER 4. The Discourses of Perestroika
• Democracy
• Market
• The United States
• PART III. THE VERNACULAR VS. THE ELITE
• On Methodology
• CHAPTER 5. Mythologizing Democracy
• Intellectual Mythology: The Highway of Civilization
• Vernacular Mythology: Power to the People!
• CHAPTER 6. Mythologizing the Market
• Intellectual Mythology: The invisible Hand
• Vernacular Mythology: Enriching Working People
• CHAPTER 7. Mythologizing the United States: The Horn of Plenty PART IV. THE SCHIZOPHRENIA OF PERESTROIKA
• CHAPTER 8. The Twilight Zone
• The Spirit of Hopelessness
• World Risk Society
• The Logic of Both / And
• CHAPTER 9. Schizophrenia as a Communicative Disorder
• Double Bind
• Network Schizophrenia and the Public Sphere
• CHAPTER 10. Personal Reflections
• CONCLUSION
• BIBLIOGRAPHY
• Primary Sources: Media Articles
• Secondary Sources
• APPENDIX A . Research Design
• Data Collecting
• Coding
• APPENDIX B . Statistical Results.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

The purpose of The Mythologies of Capitalism and the End of the Soviet Project is to show that in order to understand popular disillusionment with democratization, liberalization, and other transformations associated with the attempts of non-Western societies to appropriate the ideas of Western modernity, one must consider how these ideas are mythologized in the course of such appropriations. Olga Baysha argues that the seeds of popular post-revolutionary frustration should be sought in pre-revolutionary discourses on democracy, liberalism, and other concepts of Western modernity that are produced outside local contexts and introduced through the channels of global communication and the interpretations of politicians, activists, and experts. Analyzing the opinions of working people and intellectuals published in two Ukrainian newspapers of perestroika times, the author shows how the concepts of democracy, the market, and the West acquired schizophrenic mythical significations. The study is situated within the context of Ulrich Beck's theory of world risk society and Gregory Bateson's theory of schizophrenia as communicative disorder. The author argues that schizophrenic mythologies constructed through globalized networks can lead to disorientation, frustration, and the sense of uncertainty and insecurity on the part of mass publics.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• 1. From the impossible to the inevitable
• 2. The tide and the mobilizational cycle
• 3. Structuring nationalism
• 4. 'Thickened' history and the mobilization of identity
• 5. Tides and the failure of nationalist mobilization
• 6. Violence and tides of nationalism
• 7. The transcendence of regimes of repression
• 8. Russian mobilization and the accumulating 'inevitability' of Soviet collapse
• 9. Conclusion: nationhood and event.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

This 2002 study examines the process by which the seemingly impossible in 1987 - the disintegration of the Soviet state - became the seemingly inevitable by 1991, providing an original interpretation not only of the Soviet collapse, but also of the phenomenon of nationalism more generally. Probing the role of nationalist action as both cause and effect, Beissinger utilizes data and case studies from across the USSR during its final years to elicit the shifting relationship between pre-existing structural conditions, institutional constraints, and event-generated influences in the nationalist explosions that brought about the collapse of the Soviet Union. As Beissinger demonstrates, the 'tidal' context of nationalism - i.e., the transnational influence of one nationalism upon another - is critical to an explanation of the success and failure of particular nationalisms, why some nationalisms turn violent, and how a crescendo of events can overwhelm states, periodically evoking large-scale structural change in the character of the state system.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• 1. From the impossible to the inevitable
• 2. The tide and the mobilizational cycle
• 3. Structuring nationalism
• 4. 'Thickened' history and the mobilization of identity
• 5. Tides and the failure of nationalist mobilization
• 6. Violence and tides of nationalism
• 7. The transcendence of regimes of repression
• 8. Russian mobilization and the accumulating 'inevitability' of Soviet collapse
• 9. Conclusion: nationhood and event.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

This 2002 study examines the process by which the seemingly impossible in 1987 - the disintegration of the Soviet state - became the seemingly inevitable by 1991, providing an original interpretation not only of the Soviet collapse, but also of the phenomenon of nationalism more generally. Probing the role of nationalist action as both cause and effect, Beissinger utilizes data and case studies from across the USSR during its final years to elicit the shifting relationship between pre-existing structural conditions, institutional constraints, and event-generated influences in the nationalist explosions that brought about the collapse of the Soviet Union. As Beissinger demonstrates, the 'tidal' context of nationalism - i.e., the transnational influence of one nationalism upon another - is critical to an explanation of the success and failure of particular nationalisms, why some nationalisms turn violent, and how a crescendo of events can overwhelm states, periodically evoking large-scale structural change in the character of the state system.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• 1. From the impossible to the inevitable
• 2. The tide and the mobilizational cycle
• 3. Structuring nationalism
• 4. 'Thickened' history and the mobilization of identity
• 5. Tides and the failure of nationalist mobilization
• 6. Violence and tides of nationalism
• 7. The transcendence of regimes of repression
• 8. Russian mobilization and the accumulating 'inevitability' of Soviet collapse
• 9. Conclusion: nationhood and event.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

This 2002 study examines the process by which the seemingly impossible in 1987 - the disintegration of the Soviet state - became the seemingly inevitable by 1991, providing an original interpretation not only of the Soviet collapse, but also of the phenomenon of nationalism more generally. Probing the role of nationalist action as both cause and effect, Beissinger utilizes data and case studies from across the USSR during its final years to elicit the shifting relationship between pre-existing structural conditions, institutional constraints, and event-generated influences in the nationalist explosions that brought about the collapse of the Soviet Union. As Beissinger demonstrates, the 'tidal' context of nationalism - i.e., the transnational influence of one nationalism upon another - is critical to an explanation of the success and failure of particular nationalisms, why some nationalisms turn violent, and how a crescendo of events can overwhelm states, periodically evoking large-scale structural change in the character of the state system.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

Valery Boldin joined Gorbachev's staff in 1981 as an adviser on agricultural questions at a time when Gorbachev was still a lowly bureaucrat. But as soom as Gorbachev's star rose, so did Boldin's. He soon became Gorbachev's right-hand man, first on the Central Committee and eventually as Chief of Staff. He was thus in an ideal position to observe the combination of baroque manoeuvring and genuine vision that propelled Gorbachev to the top. Present at the creation of perestroika - indeed, he was responsible for drafting key speeches and memoranda - he sat in on many of the most fateful meetings of the era, dealing with the Chernobyl disaster, the Afghan War, the secession of the Baltic Republics. This book tells the story of all those events. But above all, it is the story of Gorbachev himself (and Raisa) - intelligent, courageous, sometimes visionary, but also ambitious, vain and at times mean-spirited.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

A newspaper editor from a village in the Urals fights to bring glasnost to the provinces. A group of peasants experiment with private agriculture, recreating a world destroyed by collectivization in the 1920s. A model "Soviet Man" refuses to lose faith in socialism. The mayor of a provincial town works for change, but admits that real reform will wait for the next generation. An orthodox priest describes his vision of tolerance for his vast country - two days before his violent assassination. In "Figures in a Red Landscape", Pilar Bonet, Moscow correspondent for "El Pais", offers a series of compelling portraits of ordinary - and extraordinary - Soviet citizens at a time of dramatic change. Capturing hopes and fears inspired by the historic events of 1990 and 1991, they are memorable accounts of people directly involved in a variety of incidents and issues - from the ecological catastrophe of the Aral Sea to the fate of oil workers in Siberia, from the seeds of anti-communism to the rise of Boris Yeltsin, from the problems of a market economy to the new challenges of "risk" and "individuality".
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• 1. Introduction
• 2. Russian Moral Traditions before 1917
• 3. Tension and Change in Revolutionary Ethics
• 4. Moral Experience under Stalin
• 5. The Rebirth of Conscience under Khrushchev
• 6. The Ethics of the Human Rights Movement
• 7. In Search of Inner Freedom
• 8. Dialogue and Division in the Dissident Movement
• 9. Conscience in Literature
• 10. Moral Aspects of In-System Dissent
• 11. The Ethics of the Party Reformers
• 12. Conscience and Repentance during Glasnost
• 13. The Democratic Movement and its Dilemmas
• 14. Conclusion.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

This book embraces the political, intellectual, social and cultural history of Soviet Russia. Providing a useful perspective of Putin's Russia, and with a strong historical and religious background, the book: looks at the changing features of the Soviet ideology from Lenin to Stalin, and the moral universe of Stalin's time explores the history of the moral thinking of the dissident intelligentsia examines the moral dimension of Soviet dissent amongst dissidents of both religious and secular persuasions, and includes biographical material explores the ethical assumptions of the perestroika era, firstly amongst Communist leaders, and then in the emerging democratic and national forces.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• 1. Introduction
• 2. Russian Moral Traditions before 1917
• 3. Tension and Change in Revolutionary Ethics
• 4. Moral Experience under Stalin
• 5. The Rebirth of Conscience under Khrushchev
• 6. The Ethics of the Human Rights Movement
• 7. In Search of Inner Freedom
• 8. Dialogue and Division in the Dissident Movement
• 9. Conscience in Literature
• 10. Moral Aspects of In-System Dissent
• 11. The Ethics of the Party Reformers
• 12. Conscience and Repentance during Glasnost
• 13. The Democratic Movement and its Dilemmas
• 14. Conclusion.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

This book embraces the political, intellectual, social and cultural history of Soviet Russia. Providing a useful perspective of Putin's Russia, and with a strong historical and religious background, the book: looks at the changing features of the Soviet ideology from Lenin to Stalin, and the moral universe of Stalin's time explores the history of the moral thinking of the dissident intelligentsia examines the moral dimension of Soviet dissent amongst dissidents of both religious and secular persuasions, and includes biographical material explores the ethical assumptions of the perestroika era, firstly amongst Communist leaders, and then in the emerging democratic and national forces.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• 1. Leadership strategies after Stalin
• 2. Gorbachev and Yeltsin: personalities and beliefs
• 3. The rise of Gorbachev
• 4. Gorbachev ascendant
• 5. Gorbachev on the political defensive
• 6. Yeltsin versus Gorbachev
• 7. Yeltsin ascendant
• 8. Yeltsin on the political defensive
• 9. Yeltsin lashes out: the invasion of Chechnya (Dec. 1994)
• 10. Yeltsin's many last hurrahs
• 11. Explaining leaders' choices, 1985-1999
• 12. Criteria for the evaluation of transformational leaders
• 13. Evaluating Gorbachev as leader
• 14. Evaluating Yeltsin as leader.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

Gorbachev and Yeltsin as Leaders examines the strategies employed by Mikhail Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin to build leadership authority. Political leaders often use a combination of coercion, material reward, and persuasion, but Professor Breslauer focuses on the power of ideas, as leaders use them to mobilize support and to craft an image as effective problem solvers, indispensable consensus builders, and symbols of national unity. In Khrushchev and Brezhnev as Leaders: Building Authority in Soviet Politics (1982), he documented Khrushchev's and Brezhnev's domestic policy strategies; this book handles domestic and foreign policies. All chapters compare Gorbachev and Yeltsin and Khrushchev and Brezhnev, mostly analyzing the changes in policy, the strategies, and the political dilemmas that are common to all four administrations. The book discusses the ways in which authority building was affected by political constraints unique to each of the stages.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

Mikhail Gorbachev was arguably the most important world statesman of the second half of the twentieth century. He played the decisive role in ending the Cold War and in allowing the countries of Eastern Europe to regain their independence peacefully. He left Russia a freer country than it had ever been. Although he failed in his attempts to turn the Soviet Union into a genuine federation, he refused to resort to the repression that would have been needed to preserve the USSR intact in the face of opposition from a number of its peoples. What kind of man made this massive difference to his own country, Europe, and the world? What were his views when he became Soviet leader and how did they evolve? Who and what influenced him? When did he move from being a reformer of the Soviet System to becoming the `grave-digger' of Communism? How decisive for the dramatic changes of the past decade was the Gorbachev factor? In this masterly account, Archie Brown - a renowned authority on Gorbachev and the first Western scholar to predict his importance - answers these questions in fascinating detail. Drawing upon a wide range of sources, including the memories (and memoirs) of those who worked most closely with Gorbachev, he combines acute political analysis with new information as he tells the story of Gorbachev's rise and fall - and of his seven years in power which changed the course of history. This book is intended for students and scholars of politics, international relations, modern history; journalists.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Introduction
• The Making of a Reformist General Secretary
• In the Portals of Power
• The Power of Ideas and the Power of Appointment
• Gorbachev and Economic Reform
• Gorbachev and Political Transformation
• Gorbachev and Foreign Policy
• The National Question, the Coup, and the Collapse of the Soviet Union
• Conclusions.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

'To understand this singular man, the reader can do no better than to turn to Archie Brown's astute and lucid book. There have been several excellent works on Mr Gorbachev ...but none examines the subject as thoroughly as this volume ...a rich study, as impressive in its sweep as in its details.' Abraham Brumberg, New York Times 'Archie Brown's book is not only a richly researched, easily readable biography of Gorbachev himself. It should be studied at once in every diplomatic service worthy of the name, starting with our own Foreign Office.' Michael Foot, Evening Standard 'Archie Brown has mastered the material and met the people ...he writes with a historical perspective unavailable to authors of the instant biographies which appeared while Gorbachev was in power.' Rodric Braithwaite, Financial Times 'Archie Brown's closely reasoned book ...makes a better case for Gorbachev's record as a reformer than Gorbachev's own memoirs ...the most thorough exposition of Gorbachev's domestic political record yet to appear.' Jack F. Matlock, Jr, New York Review of Books 'This Oxford don, for years one of the world's most talented Kremlinologists, has already found the memoirs, documents and interviews that allow him to provide a remarkably detailed and authoritative account of the key moments in Gorbachev's career.' Robert G. Kaiser, Washington Post 'It is hard to come away from this admirable book without an affection for Gorbachev's insistence on peaceful change, his willingness to let Eastern Europe go and his determination to nurture a pluralist culture.' Nick Cohen, Observer 'Brown's latest book is the product of many years of intensive research: it proves to be the most detailed and revealing study of the man who revolutionised the USSR. Excellent.' Good Book Guide.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

Mikhail Gorbachev was arguably the most important world statesman of the second half of the twentieth century. He played the decisive role in ending the Cold War and in allowing the countries of Eastern Europe to regain their independence peacefully. He left Russia a freer country than it had ever been. Although he failed in his attempts to turn the Soviet Union into a genuine federation, he refused to resort to the repression that would have been needed to preserve the USSR intact in the face of opposition from a number of its peoples. What kind of man made this massive difference to his own country, Europe, and the world? What were his views when he became Soviet leader and how did they evolve? Who and what influenced him? When did he move from being a reformer of the Soviet System to becoming the `grave-digger' of Communism? How decisive for the dramatic changes of the past decade was the Gorbachev factor? In this masterly account, Archie Brown - a renowned authority on Gorbachev and the first Western scholar to predict his importance - answers these questions in fascinating detail. Drawing upon a wide range of sources, including the memories (and memoirs) of those who worked most closely with Gorbachev, he combines acute political analysis with new information as he tells the story of Gorbachev's rise and fall - and of his seven years in power which changed the course of history. This book is intended for students and scholars of politics, international relations, modern history; journalists.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• PART 1
• 1. Introduction
• PART 2
• 2. Gorbachev: New Man in the Kremlin
• 3. The First Phase of Soviet Reform, 1985-86
• 4. Fundamental Political Change, 1987-89
• 5. Reconstructing the Soviet Political System
• PART 3
• 6. Institutional Amphibiousness or Civil Society? The Origins and Development of Perestroika
• 7. The Dismantling of the System and the Disintegration of the State
• 8. Transnational Influences in the Transition from Communism
• 9. Ending the Cold War
• 10. Gorbachev and His Era in Perspective
• Index.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

A rigorously argued and lively interpretation of the transformation of the Soviet system, the disintegration of the Soviet state, the end of the Cold War, and the role of Mikhail Gorbachev. Written by a leading authority on Soviet politics, this thoroughly researched book draws on new archival sources and puts perestroika in fresh perspective. Perestroika began as an attempt by a minority within the leadership of the Communist Party to reform the Soviet system. The decisive role was played by the new General Secretary, Mikhail Gorbachev. Perestroika (reconstruction) developed into an attempt to move from Communism to competitive elections and a market economy of a social democratic type. This 'revolution from above' had profound consequences, both intended and unintended. The latter included the dissolution of the Soviet state. Four of the ten chapters were written in 'real time' - in the second half of the 1980s while perestroika was still underway. The other six chapters provide an up-to-date discussion of such important issues as the stimuli to perestroika, its intellectual origins and development, its influence on other countries and their influence on developments in the Soviet Union, and the ending of the Cold War. Archie Brown takes issue with a number of popular interpretations of perestroika - and of the end of the Cold War - and draws on new archival sources in a book which is both clearly and vigorously argued and well documented.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Preface
• Glossary and abbreviations
• pt. 1
• 1. Introduction
• pt. 2
• 2. Gorbachev : new man in the Kremlin
• 3. The first phase of Soviet reform, 1985-6
• 4. Fundamental political change, 1987-9
• 5. Reconstructing the Soviet political system
• pt. 3
• 6. Institutional amphibiousness or civil society? The origins and development of Perestroika
• 7. The dismantling of the system and the disintegration of the state
• 8. Transnational influences in the transition from communism
• 9. Ending the Cold War
• 10. Gorbachev and his era in perspective
• Index.

A rigorously argued and lively interpretation of the transformation of the Soviet system, written by a leading authority on Soviet politics. This thoroughly researched book draws on new archival sources and puts perestroika in fresh perspective. - ; A rigorously argued and lively interpretation of the transformation of the Soviet system, the disintegration of the Soviet state, the end of the Cold War, and the role of Mikhail Gorbachev. Written by a leading authority on Soviet politics, this thoroughly researched book draws on new archival sources and puts perestroika in fresh perspective. Perestroika began as an attempt by a minority within the leadership of the Communist Party to reform the Soviet system. The decisive role was played by the new General Secretary, Mikhail Gorbachev. Perestroika (reconstruction) developed into an attempt to move from Communism to competitive elections and a market economy of a social democratic type. This 'revolution from above' had profound consequences, both intended and unintended. The latter included the dissolution of the Soviet state. Four of the ten chapters were written in 'real time' - in the second half of the 1980s while perestroika was still underway. The other six chapters provide an up-to-date discussion of such important issues as the stimuli to perestroika, its intellectual origins and development, its influence on other countries and their influence on developments in the Soviet Union, and the ending of the Cold War. Archie Brown takes issue with a number of popular interpretations of perestroika - and of the end of the Cold War - and draws on new archival sources in a book which is both clearly and vigorously argued and well documented. - ; ... the book will encourage readers to revive their memories of the excitement of the Gorbachev years and to refine their own opinions on the man himself and.
Existence of serious reformers inside the Soviet establishment. History proved him right, and his critics wrong. Now, as this volume shows, he has the Soviet archives on his side as well - Mary Dejevsky (The Times Moscow correspondent during perestroika), Oxford Today.
His policies. - Paul Dukes History Today; There are few who can compete with Professor Brown in intensity of attention to Soviet politics and Soviet institutions, in nuanced approach, and in painstaking analysis - Lilia Shevtsova, Pro et Contra; Mikhail Gorbachev's most important biographer here passes judgement on the man and the process he unleashed ... The book's first part comprises four pieces written at the time of perestroika, which in retrospect were remarkably perceptive. In the years since, the mounting archival and memoir evidence - and Brown brings much of it to bear - has only strengthened his argument - Robert Legvold, Foreign Affairs; 'The real genius of the end of communism was Mikhail Gorbachev, general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1991. Archie Brown has been his closest and best commentator.' - Financial Times; 'The bulk of the book is a necessary reminder of what Mr Gorbachev and perestroika achieved - even if inadvertently. For what, asks Mr Brown, did Mr Gorbachev sacrifice "the boundless authority, the unquestioning obedience, the orchestrated public adulation"? For freedom of speech, freedom of religion, competitive elections and a host of other accomplishments. The author rightly concludes that the "democratic shortcomings of post-Soviet Russia notwithstanding, the country that Gorbachev bequeathed to his successors was freer than at any time in Russian history".' - The Economist; Demonstrating his meticulous scholarship and painstaking research, Brown adapts to the Soviet scene the concept of "institutional amphibiousness", by which some parts of the state system can simultaneously work for functions and purposes contradictory to those of the state' - Times Literary Supplement; in the 1980s Brown had to field his share of brickbats from those who accused him of wishful thinking about the very

• Acknowledgments
• 1. Russian Nationalists in Soviet Politics
• 2. The Emergence of Politics by Culture, 1953-1964
• 3. The First Phase of Inclusionary Politics, 1965-1970
• 4. The Rise and Fall of Inclusionary Politics, 1971-1985
• 5. What Went Wrong with the Politics of Inclusion?
• 6. What Is Russia, and Where Should It Go? Political Debates, 1971-1985
• 7. The Zenith of Politics by Culture, 1985-1989
• 8. The Demise of Politics by Culture, 1989-1991 Epilogue: Russian Nationalism in Postcommunist Russia Notes Index.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

What caused the emergence of nationalist movements in many post-communist states? What role did communist regimes play in fostering these movements? Why have some been more successful than others? To address these questions, Yitzhak Brudny traces the Russian nationalist movement from its origins within the Russian intellectual elite of the 1950s to its institutionalization in electoral alliances, parliamentary factions, and political movements of the early 1990s. Brudny argues that the rise of the Russian nationalist movement was a combined result of the reinvention of Russian national identity by a group of intellectuals, and the Communist Party's active support of this reinvention in order to gain greater political legitimacy. The author meticulously reconstructs the development of the Russian nationalist thought from Khrushchev to Yeltsin, as well as the nature of the Communist Party response to Russian nationalist ideas. Through analysis of major Russian literary, political, and historical writings, the recently-published memoirs of the Russian nationalist intellectuals and Communist Party officials, and documents discovered in the Communist Party archives, Brudny sheds new light on social, intellectual, and political origins of Russian nationalism, and emphasizes the importance of ideas in explaining the fate of the Russian nationalist movement during late communist and early post-communist periods.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Russian nationalists in Soviet politics
• the emergence of politics by culture, 1953-1964
• the first phase of inclusionary politics, 1965-1970
• the rise and fall of inclusionary politics, 1971-1985
• what went wrong with the politics of inclusion?
• what is Russia, and where should it go? political debates, 1971-1985
• the zenith of politics by culture, 1985-1989
• the demise of politics by culture, 1989-1991
• epilogue - Russian nationalism in postcommunist Russia.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

What caused the emergence of nationalist movements in many post-communist states? What role did communist regimes play in fostering these movements? Why have some been more successful than others? This text aims to answer these and other questions. It starts by tracing Russian nationalist movement from its origins within the Russian intellectual elite of the 1950s, to its institutionalization in electoral alliances, parliamentary factions, and political movements of the early 1990s. It argues that the rise of the Russian nationalist movement was a combined result of the reinvention of Russian national identity by a group of intellectuals, and the Communist party's active support of this reinvention in order to gain greater political legitimacy. Through analysis of major Russian literary, politcal and historical writings, published memoirs of Russian nationalist intellectuals and Communist Party officials, and documents and archives, this text sheds light on the social, intellectual and political origins of Russian nationalism and emphasizes the importance of ideas in explaining the fate of the Russian nationalist movement during late communist and early post-communist periods.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

In this volume, one of a series edited by Michael Leifer of the London School of Economics, the authors examine Soviet foreign policy toward South-East Asia in the context of the perestroika-era transformations in the Soviet Union. The rigidly compartmentalized decision-making structure of the Soviet Union before Gorbachev made it possible to analyze foreign policy decisions in isolation from the aims and values of domestic politics. Perestroika changed all that. Long-suppressed political activity re-emerged to break down the barriers between foreign policy and domestic politics. The book looks at the actual developments in South-East Asia, including the growth of international trade in the region, the weakening of the Soviet alliance with Vietnam and the real effort to overcome old hostilities with growth areas such as Brunei and Singapore. The resolution of the Cambodian problem, regionalism in South-East Asia and the South China Sea episode are also covered. Buszynski's real theme, however, is the complete adjustment of Soviet foreign policy-making under Gorbachev, with the Asia-Pacific region as a convenient example.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

Shows how the rise of nationalism in the former Soviet republics stripped the Communist Party of legitimacy and led inevitably to the revolution of 1991. D'Encausse does not see nationalism as a sinister phenomenon, arguing instead that it is the only means for Soviet society to renew itself.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

Shows how the rise of nationalism in the former Soviet republics stripped the Communist Party of legitimacy and led inevitably to the revolution of 1991. D'Encausse does not see nationalism as a sinister phenomenon, arguing instead that it is the only means for Soviet society to renew itself.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Past as Prologue - Soviet Policy Toward Eastern Europe, 1945-1985
• Forces Impelling Change
• East European Policy as a Function of Domestic Reform and Politics
• Internal Ideological Change and Its External Implications
• The Rational Actor Revisited.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

Most people will admit that in 1985 they could not imagine that during their lifetime the Soviet Union would permit the Berlin Wall to fall, would allow democratic elections in Eastern Europe, and would withdraw its troops from the region, ending the Cold War. Yet, between 1985 and 1990, the Soviet Union reoriented its foreign policy rapidly, decisively, and peacefully. This book explains why the Soviet Union abandoned its long-term policy toward Eastern Europe: specifically, why the Gorbachev regime abandoned the Brezhnev Doctrine. This study of the decisions that resulted in the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe helps us understand the factors and forces behind not only Gorbachev's Eastern European policy but also Moscow's foreign policy in general, Soviet internal democratisation, and the large-scale historical change in the 20th century. This book should be valuable reading for those concerned with contemporary international and military relations and Eastern European studies.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

Drawing on his own diary, as well as secret documents and transcripts of high-level meetings, Anatoly Chernyaev recounts the drama that swept the Soviet Union between 1985 and 1991. As Gorbachev's chief foreign policy aide for most of that period, he played a central role in efforts to halt the arms race, discard a confrontational ideology, and open his country to the world. As Gorbachev's confidant on many domestic issues as well, Chernyaev offers insights into the struggle over glasnost, the growth of separatism, and the rise of Boris Yeltsin. While admiring of perestroika's founder, Chernyaev is frank in faulting Gorbachev for his hesitancy in economic reforms, for his delay in decentralizing Union-republic ties, and above all for his misplaced faith in the reformability of the Communist Party.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Introduction: Alternatives and Fates
• 1. Bukharin's Fate
• 2. The Victims Return: Gulag Survivors Since Stalin
• 3. The Tragedy of Soviet Conservatism
• 4. Was the Soviet System Reformable?
• 5. The Fate of the Soviet Union: Why Did It End?
• 6. Gorbachev's Lost Legacies
• 7. Who Lost the Post-Soviet Peace? About the Notes Notes Index.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

With conflicts again dividing Russia and the United States, the need for balanced, accessible scholarship that benefits from new materials and critical perspectives is imperative. In seven lucid, groundbreaking essays, Stephen F. Cohen questions many conventional assumptions about the course of Soviet history, the fall of communism, and the effect of Russia's policies at home and abroad.Written for specialists and general readers, Cohen's essays are framed by a chronological narrative that focuses on key turning points and lost alternatives. Beginning with Stalin's preeminent challenger and victim, Nikolai Bukharin, and the unexpected return of millions of survivors of Stalin's terror under Nikita Khrushchev, Cohen shows how their tragic fates shaped the latter-day Soviet Union. Turning to more recent events, he examines the political fates of the Soviet system's greatest reformer, Mikhail Gorbachev, and his leading conservative rival, Yegor Ligachev. Through these figures, Cohen raises even more provocative issues, including his argument that the Soviet Union was capable of reform and that its breakup was not inevitable. Most urgently, in two concluding chapters Cohen argues that Washington was the first to squander the opportunity for a fundamentally new U.S.-Russian relationship after the Cold War, and he presents a radically new approach for achieving a necessary partnership with today's Russia.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Introduction: Alternatives and Fates
• 1. Bukharin's Fate
• 2. The Victims Return: Gulag Survivors Since Stalin
• 3. The Tragedy of Soviet Conservatism
• 4. Was the Soviet System Reformable?
• 5. The Fate of the Soviet Union: Why Did It End?
• 6. Gorbachev's Lost Legacies
• 7. Who Lost the Post-Soviet Peace? About the Notes Notes Index.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

In this wide-ranging and acclaimed book, Stephen F. Cohen challenges conventional wisdom about the course of Soviet and post-Soviet history. Reexamining leaders from Nikolai Bukharin, Stalin's preeminent opponent, and Nikita Khrushchev to Mikhail Gorbachev and his rival Yegor Ligachev, Cohen shows that their defeated policies were viable alternatives and that their tragic personal fates shaped the Soviet Union and Russia today. Cohen's ramifying arguments include that Stalinism was not the predetermined outcome of the Communist Revolution; that the Soviet Union was reformable and its breakup avoidable; and that the opportunity for a real post-Cold War relationship with Russia was squandered in Washington, not in Moscow. This is revisionist history at its best, compelling readers to rethink fateful events of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries and the possibilities ahead. In his new epilogue, Cohen expands his analysis of U.S. policy toward post-Soviet Russia, tracing its development in the Clinton and Obama administrations and pointing to its initiation of a "new Cold War" that, he implies, has led to a fateful confrontation over Ukraine.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• A Note on the Text Preface A Background to the Study Nash Sovremennik and Russian Nationalist Ideology, 1981-91 The Brezhnev Succession Crisis and the Russian Challenge Andropov and the Supression of Russian Statist Nationalism From Chernenko to Gorbachev Aleksandr Yakolev and the 'Cultural Offensive' Ligachev and the Conservative Counter-Offensive Chief Editor Kunyaev: From Gorbachev to El'tsin Epilogue: Seven Paradoxes of Russian Nationalism Editorial Structures and Policy-making Biographical Notes on Selected Editors and Authors Bibliography.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

Russia under President Putin stands, as often before, at a crossroads. Can the reforms of the 1990s provide the foundations for a stable, democratic society, or will a new authoritarianism, more in keeping with Russian political traditions, take shape? With the collapse of empire and the creation of the Russian Federation, Russian nationalism is becoming increasingly important in Russian politics. Yet Russian nationalism is not a new phenomenon. Who were the Russian nationalists before the creation of today's Russia? What were their views? What was their political influence? This book seeks answers to these questions by looking in detail at the USSR from 1981 to 1991 through the eyes of a group of leading Russian nationalist intellectuals gathered around the literary journal Nash sovremennik. The author suggests that, in the twenty-first century, a specifically Russian type of nationalism, ethnic and statist, could provide the ideological underpinning for a new authoritarianism.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

D'Agostino (history, San Francisco State U.) argues that the end of communism was never the Soviet leader's goal, but was the unintended result of an intense and many-faceted struggle for power. He presents evidence that the hope for stable, in-system reform ignored the history of succession strugg.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Preface - A Gorbachev Epiphany? - The Old Regime of the Soviet Communists: Foreign Policy in the Cold War - Hero of the Harvest - 'Acceleration of the Perfection' 1985-1987 - Gorbachev Bound: The Emergence of the Ligachev Opposition - The Thought of Mikhail Gorbachev: A Treatise and a Speech - Between Yeltsin and Ligachev - Another Escape Forward, 1988 - Dropping the Pilot: Gorbachev Retires Gromyko -
• 1989: The Year of Anger and Remembering - From the Wall to Stavropol: Gorbachev's German Policy - The Second Russian Revolution Gathers - From the Coup to the End - Conclusion: Utopia and Repentance - Index.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

A kalideidoscopic political and intellectual history of the fall of Soviet Communism and the partition of the Soviet Union. It describes the rise and fall of Gorbachev against a background of an intensifying east-west arms race. The book provides detailed analysis of the leader's Politburo power struggles, foreign policy initiatives, reforms of nationality policy and Bloc relations, and interventions in the vast and crucial historical debates about the nature of Stalinism.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Preface. Book guide. Note on transliteration. PART I: THE MAKING OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION.
• 1. Introduction. Transforming Russia.
• 2. Gorbachev and Reconstruction: Reforming the Unreformable?
• 3. Russia and the Russians. PART II: THE MAKING OF THE RUSSIAN STATE.
• 4. President and Parliament.
• 5. The Russian Federation.
• 6. The Judiciary and Human Rights.
• 7. The State in Uniform. PART III: THE MAKING OF RUSSIAN DEMOCRACY.
• 8. The People Speak.
• 9. The Mass Media. PART IV: REFORMING RUSSIA.
• 10. From Superpower to Great Power: Russia and the World.
• 11. Reforming the Economy.
• 12. Society and Social Policy.
• 13. Conclusions. APPENDICES.
• 1. The Dynamics of State Duma Elections 1993
• -1999.
• 2. The State Duma.
• 3. The Federal Organs of Executive Power of the RF.
• 4. The Presidential Administration of the RF. Constitution. Chronology. Glossary of acronyms and terms. Biographies. Bibliography. Index.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

Essential text for a 1st term/semester undergraduate course on Russian Politics (usually 1st or 2nd year). This lively, authoritative and contemporary introduction to Russia looks at both the politics and society of one of the world's most fascinating countries.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Personality, Charisma and Leadership
• The Making of an International Persona
• Youth, Politics and Style
• Leadership and Ideological Reform
• Perestroika and the Search for New Politics
• "Perestroika" as Political, Social and Economic Reform
• Stalinism and the Andreyeva Letter
• Sakharov and the Congress of People's Deputies
• Yeltsin and the Russian Alternative
• Glasnost - the Media and the Formation of a New Political Culture
• Glasnost in Theory and Practice
• News Media - Print and Broadcast Journalism
• The Emergence of a New Popular Culture
• Foreign Policy - Gorbachev Style
• "New Thinking"
• Summitry and Internationalism
• The Peace and Disarmament Offensive
• Into the Abyss and Beyond
• The Great Master of Improvization
• The August Coup
• Resignation, Controversy and Assessment.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

Mikhail Gorbachev was a major force at the centre of political change in the latter half of the 20th century. His emphasis on the spoken word and the visual image was so pronounced that the character of the reform programme he introduced became both a reflection and an extension of his own political persona. To promote his political programme, Gorbachev depended upon the media to assist him in delivering his message and restructuring the Soviet experience, it was almost as if he believed that he could talk a revolution into existence. He hoped to promote both real and symbolic change, but found instead that such efforts led to his own downfall.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Personality, Charisma and Leadership
• The Making of an International Persona
• Youth, Politics and Style
• Leadership and Ideological Reform
• Perestroika and the Search for New Politics
• "Perestroika" as Political, Social and Economic Reform
• Stalinism and the Andreyeva Letter
• Sakharov and the Congress of People's Deputies
• Yeltsin and the Russian Alternative
• Glasnost - the Media and the Formation of a New Political Culture
• Glasnost in Theory and Practice
• News Media - Print and Broadcast Journalism
• The Emergence of a New Popular Culture
• Foreign Policy - Gorbachev Style
• "New Thinking"
• Summitry and Internationalism
• The Peace and Disarmament Offensive
• Into the Abyss and Beyond
• The Great Master of Improvization
• The August Coup
• Resignation, Controversy and Assessment.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

Mikhail Gorbachev was a major force at the centre of political change in the latter half of the 20th century. His emphasis on the spoken word and the visual image was so pronounced that the character of the reform programme he introduced became both a reflection and an extension of his own political persona. To promote his political programme, Gorbachev depended upon the media to assist him in delivering his message and restructuring the Soviet experience, it was almost as if he believed that he could talk a revolution into existence. He hoped to promote both real and symbolic change, but found instead that such efforts led to his own downfall.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

A probing, chilling report on the silenced peoples and republics of the Soviet Union, The Hidden Nations confronts the issue that Mikhail Gorbachev says is the single most important problem facing the USSR today: the astonishing and cataclysmic rise of nationalism within the USSR's borders. Photos.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

A probing, chilling report on the silenced peoples and republics of the Soviet Union, The Hidden Nations confronts the issue that Mikhail Gorbachev says is the single most important problem facing the USSR today: the astonishing and cataclysmic rise of nationalism within the USSR's borders. Photos.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

"One of the great stories of our time . . . a wonderful anecdotal history of a great drama." -- "San Francisco Chronicle Book Review" As "Washington Post" correspondent in Moscow, Warsaw, and Yugoslavia in the final decade of the Soviet empire, Michael Dobbs had a ringside seat to the extraordinary events that led to the unraveling of the Bolshevik Revolution. From Tito's funeral to the birth of Solidarity in the Gda´ nsk shipyard, from the tragedy of Tiananmen Square to Boris Yeltsin standing on a tank in the center of Moscow, Dobbs saw it all. The fall of communism was one of the great human dramas of our century, as great a drama as the original Bolshevik revolution. Dobbs met almost all of the principal actors, including Mikhail Gorbachev, Lech Walesa, Vá clav Havel, and Andrei Sakharov. With a sweeping command of the subject and the passion and verve of an eyewitness, he paints an unforgettable portrait of the decade in which the familiar and seemingly petrified Cold War world--the world of Checkpoint Charlie and Dr. Strangelove--vanished forever. " "Down with Big Brother" ranks very high among the plethora of books about the fall of the Soviet Union and the death throes of Communism. It is possibly the most vividly written of the lot." -- Adam B. Ulam, "Washington Post Book World".
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

The author assesses the balance of costs and benefits to the USSR of its considerable economic and military involvement with India; considers the effects of changing domestic, regional and global conditions and looks at the effects on the West. This book should be of interest to students of politics and international relations.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Part 1 The study of Soviet-Third World relations. Part 2 Soviet policy toward the Third World - Gorbachev's new directions: Moscow and the Third World
• Gorbachev's "new thinking" - economic and strategic priorities
• new thinking in Soviet-Third World policy. Part 3 Regional case studies: Afghanistan and South Asia
• the Middle East
• Asia
• Sub-Saharan Africa
• Latin America. Part 4 Prospects for the future.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

Since Gorbachev assumed power in 1985, Soviet attitudes toward the developing world have changed dramatically. This book explores the shape and scope of the "new thinking" in Moscow's foreign policy. The authors assess Gorbachev's economic and strategic priorities in the diplomatic arena and their impact on the Third World in the context of the fixed limits to change imposed by the legacy of the past. Each regional chapter reviews past Soviet policy, examines the rationale for Gorbachev's present initiatives, and weighs future trends - including implications for US-Soviet relations.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Preface1Gorbachev and Russia32Yeltsin and Russia383The "Democrats"674The Statists1235Anatomy of a Failed Coup1866From the Failed Putsch to the Founding of CIS256Epilogue285Postscript (1995)303Notes327Index371.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

This is the first work to set one of the great bloodless revolutions of the twentieth century in its proper historical context. John Dunlop pays particular attention to Yeltsin's role in opposing the covert resurgence of Communist interests in post-coup Russia, and faces the possibility that new institutions may not survive long enough to sink roots in a traditionally undemocratic culture.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

A narrative, tracing Russian political events of the 1985-1991 period, which sets one of the great bloodless revolutions of the 20th century in its historical context. The author recounts in detail the failed coup against Gorbachev, and the emergence of Boris Yeltsin.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Preface1Gorbachev and Russia32Yeltsin and Russia383The "Democrats"674The Statists1235Anatomy of a Failed Coup1866From the Failed Putsch to the Founding of CIS256Epilogue285Postscript (1995)303Notes327Index371.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

This is the first work to set one of the great bloodless revolutions of the twentieth century in its proper historical context. John Dunlop pays particular attention to Yeltsin's role in opposing the covert resurgence of Communist interests in post-coup Russia, and faces the possibility that new institutions may not survive long enough to sink roots in a traditionally undemocratic culture.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• PrefaceAcknowledgments Introduction / Boris Yeltsin, Russian Liberator
• 1. Refore or Revolution? Yeltsin and Gorbachev, 1987-1991--From Colleagues to Rivals--Yeltsin Builds an Opposition Program and Russian Base--Challenging the Center--Counterrevolution and Democratic Revolution--Replacing the Union--Epilogue
• 2. The Politics of Reform, 1991-1999--Facing Communist Opposition--Conflicts over Policy and Consitutional Structure--Blocking Constitutional Reform--Reform and Rebellion--The New Constitutional Order--Parliamentary and Presidential Elections--The Final Phase of Yeltsin's Leadership: Economic and Political Crisis--Yeltsin Seeks a Successor
• 3. Building A New Economy--The Legacy of Gorbachev's Economic Reforms--The Politics and Economics of the Yeltsin Reforms--The Long Struggle for Agricultural Reform--Yeltsin's Achievement in Economic Reform
• 4. The New Russia and the World--Russia and the West--Russia and East Asia--Russia and the Other Former Soviet Republics--An Overview of Russian Foreign Policy under Yeltsin The Yeltsin Legacy NotesSelected BibliographyIndex.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

Boris Yeltsin is one of modern history's most dynamic and underappreciated figures. In this vivid, analytical masterwork, Herbert J. Ellison establishes Yeltsin as the principal leader and defender of Russia's democratic revolution - the very embodiment of Russia's fragile new liberties, including the evolving respect for the rule of law and private property as well as core freedoms of speech, religion, press, and political association. In 1987 President Mikhail Gorbachev expelled Boris Yeltsin from his team of reform politicians, but Yeltsin rebounded from this potentially devastating setback to become the leader of the Russian democratic movement. He created a new office of Russian president, to which he was elected; designed a democratic constitution for the Soviet Union that precipitated a coup attempt by traditionalist communist leaders; granted independence to the nations of the Soviet Union; and replaced Communist Party rule with democracy and the socialist economy with a market economy. In a short period, he had succeeded in becoming the first popularly elected leader in a thousand years of Russian history. He had blocked violent attempts at counter-revolution and overcome powerful resistance to his reform program. His achievements rank among the most extraordinary feats of political leadership in the twentieth century.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Preface: An Intellectual History
• The Origins and Nature of Old Thinking
• Leaders, Society, and Intellectuals During the Thaw
• Intellectuals and the World: From the Secret Speech to the Prague Spring
• The Dynamics of New Thinking in the Era of Stagnation
• Advance and Retreat: New Thinking in the Time of Crisis and Transition
• The New Thinking Comes to Power
• Conclusion: Reflections on the Origins and Fate of New Thinking.

An intriguing "intellectual portrait" of a generation of Soviet reformers, this book is also a fascinating case study of how ideas can change the course of history. In most analyses of the Cold War's end the ideological aspects of Gorbachev's "new thinking" are treated largely as incidental to the broader considerations of power -- as gloss on what was essentially a retreat forced by crisis and decline. Robert English makes a major contribution by demonstrating that Gorbachev's foreign policy was in fact the result of an intellectual revolution. English analyzes the rise of a liberal policy-academic elite and its impact on the Cold War's end. English worked in the archives of the USSR Foreign Ministry and also gained access to the restricted collections of leading foreign-policy institutes. He also conducted nearly 400 interviews with Soviet intellectuals and policy makers -- from Khrushchev- and Brezhnev-era Politburo members to Perestroika-era notables such as Eduard Shevardnadze and Gorbachev himself. English traces the rise of a "Westernizing" worldview from the post-Stalin years, through a group of liberals in the late1960s--70s, to a circle of close advisers who spurred Gorbachev's most radical reforms.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Preface: An Intellectual History Introduction: Intellectuals, Ideas, and Identity in the Sources of International Change
• 1. The Origins and Nature of Old Thinking
• 2. Leaders, Society, and Intellectuals During the Thaw
• 3. Intellectuals and the World: From the Secret Speech to the Prague Spring
• 4. The Dynamics of New Thinking in the Era of Stagnation
• 5. Advance and Retreat: New Thinking in the Time of Crisis and Transition
• 6. The New Thinking Comes to Power Conclusion: Reflections on the Origins and Fate of New Thinking Notes Bibliography Index.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

An intriguing "intellectual portrait" of a generation of Soviet reformers, this book is also a fascinating case study of how ideas can change the course of history. In most analyses of the Cold War's end the ideological aspects of Gorbachev's "new thinking" are treated largely as incidental to the broader considerations of power -- as gloss on what was essentially a retreat forced by crisis and decline. Robert English makes a major contribution by demonstrating that Gorbachev's foreign policy was in fact the result of an intellectual revolution. English analyzes the rise of a liberal policy-academic elite and its impact on the Cold War's end. English worked in the archives of the USSR Foreign Ministry and also gained access to the restricted collections of leading foreign-policy institutes. He also conducted nearly 400 interviews with Soviet intellectuals and policy makers -- from Khrushchev- and Brezhnev-era Politburo members to Perestroika-era notables such as Eduard Shevardnadze and Gorbachev himself. English traces the rise of a "Westernizing" worldview from the post-Stalin years, through a group of liberals in the late1960s--70s, to a circle of close advisers who spurred Gorbachev's most radical reforms.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Preface
• Introduction
• 1. On the eve: Soviet policy toward the Middle East from World War II until the invasion of Afghanistan
• 2. Soviet policy from the invasion of Afghanistan until the death of Brezhnev
• 3. The interregnum: Moscow and the Middle East under Andropov and Chernenko
• 4. Moscow and the Middle East under Gorbachev: new thinking in theory and practice
• 5. Conclusion: continuity and change in Soviet policy toward the Middle East
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

In this important student text, first published in 1991, Professor Freedman provides an exhaustive account of Soviet policy in the Middle East from the invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979 to withdrawal from the country ten years later. Following an introductory chapter which views the period from World War II to the invasion, Robert Freedman examines policy motives and outcomes in a broadly chronological approach. Specific and detailed attention is paid to Soviet policy towards the Iran-Iraq war, the Arab-Israeli conflict and intra-Arab policies. Throughout, Professor Freedman compares the policies of Gorbachev with those of his predecessors - Brezhnev, Chernenko and Andropov. He concludes that continuity, not change, has characterised recent Soviet policy towards the Middle East. Moscow and the Middle East will provide students of Soviet foreign policy, the Middle East and international relations with an invaluable textbook. It will also prove an essential reference source for government officials and policy analysts.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

Mikhail Gorbachev's rise to power in 1985 signalled the beginning of significant improvements in Soviet-Israeli relations. Based on analysis of Soviet behaviour and interviews with Israeli and Soviet Foreign Ministry officials and PLO leaders, this study describes how eased tensions between the Soviet Union and Israel have been achieved, and analyzes the Soviet Union's reasons for advancing diplomatic relations with Israel. Robert Owen Freedman follows the progress of Soviet policy from the 1987 arrival of the Soviet consular delegation in Israel, which heralded rapid improvement on the diplomatic front, through 1989 trade agreements, cultural, academic, and athletic exchanges, and 1990 political meetings between high ranking officials. Freedman's identification of the four primary goals which positively directed these Soviet initiatives towards Israel is central to the study as it recognizes the Soviet desire to become active in the Middle East peace process and to favourably influence domestic and worldwide opinion. Both meticulously documented and forward-looking, the conclusions reached can stimulate discussion and provide a basis for further study for members of the academic, political, and diplomatic communities.
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• The grandeur and the fall of empires
• Modern economic growth and the era of empires
• Crisis and the dismantling of overseas empires
• Problems of dissolving territorially integrated empires
• The yugoslav tragedy
• Authoritarian regimes: the causes of instability
• Challenges in the early stages of modern economic growth and authoritarianism
• The instability of authoritarian regimes
• Mechanics of the collapse of authoritarianism
• The oil curse
• The Spanish prologue
• Resource wealth and economic development
• Specifics of the oil market
• Regulating the oil market in the twentieth century
• Challenges related to price fluctuations of commodities: Mexico and Venezuela
• In search of a way out: a response to the dangers of unstable commodity pricing
• Cracks in the foundation: the Soviet Union in the early 1980s
• Growing problems and bad decisions
• Food supply problems
• Food shortages-a strategic challenge
• The USSR as the largest importer of food
• Oil in Western Siberia: the illusion of salvation
• A drop in oil prices: the final blow
• The collapse of the USSR: the unexpected becomes the rule
• The political economy of external shocks
• Deteriorating conditions for foreign trade: political alternatives
• The ussr and the drop in oil prices: the essence of the choice
• A series of mistakes
• Mounting problems in the soviet economy
• The hard currency crisis
• Economic and political liberalization against the background of the hard currency and financial problems
• Development of the crisis of the socialist system
• Political credits
• The price of compromise
• The crisis of the empire and the nationality question
• Loss of control over the economic and political situation
• The currency crisis
• From crisis to catastrophe
• "Extraordinary efforts" instead of reforms
• On the brink of default
• On the path to state bankruptcy
• The grain problem
• Prices skyrocket
• Money and the fate of the empire
• The fall
• The political economy of the failed coup
• Political death throes
• Political disintegration: economic consequences
• A civilized divorce.

My goal is to show the reader that the Soviet political and economic system was unstable by its very nature. It was just a question of when and how it would collapse.... -From the Introduction to Collapse of an Empire The Soviet Union was an empire in many senses of the word -a vast mix of far-flung regions and accidental citizens by way of conquest or annexation. Typical of such empires, it was built on shaky foundations. That instability made its demise inevitable, asserts Yegor Gaidar, former prime minister of Russia and architect of the "shock therapy" economic reforms of the 1990s. Yet a growing desire to return to the glory days of empire is pushing today's Russia backward into many of the same traps that made the Soviet Union untenable. In this important new book, Gaidar clearly illustrates why Russian nostalgia for empire is dangerous and ill-fated: "Dreams of returning to another era are illusory. Attempts to do so will lead to defeat." Gaidar uses world history, the Soviet experience, and economic analysis to demonstrate why swimming against this tide of history would be a huge mistake. The USSR sowed the seeds of its own economic destruction, and Gaidar worries that Russia is repeating some of those mistakes. Once again, for example, the nation is putting too many eggs into one basket, leaving the nation vulnerable to fluctuations in the energy market. The Soviets had used revenues from energy sales to prop up struggling sectors such as agriculture, which was so thoroughly ravaged by hyperindustrialization that the Soviet Union became a net importer of food. When oil prices dropped in the 1980s, that revenue stream diminished, and dependent sectors suffered heavily. Although strategies requiring austerity or sacrifice can be politically difficult, Russia needs to prepare for such downturns and restrain spending during prosperous times. Collapse of an Empire shows why it is imperative to fix the roof before it starts to rain, and why sometimes the past should be left in the past.
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• The Decay of the Soviet Union - Yurii Andropov and the Rise of Mikhail Gorbachev - Electing Gorbachev - Gorbachev the Technocrat: Uskoreniye and the Attempt to Modernise - Gorbachev the Reformer: Glasnost' and Perestroika - Gorbachev the Gambler: Democratisation - Gorbachev the Revolutionary: the End of the Soviet Union - Appendices - Chronology - Gallery of Main Characters - Bibliography and Guide to Further Reading - Index - Map.
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By turns radical, uncertain, ambitious, and autocratic, Mikhail Gorbachev in his bid to reform the Soviet Union has shaped the contemporary world. In 1985, he set out to modernize the Soviet state and revive his Communist Party. Instead, by the end of 1991, the USSR had fragmented and the Party was banned. Institutions which had survived for 70 years, notwithstanding Stalin's murderous purges and the Nazi war machine, proved unable to survive his well-meant reforms. This is a concise and lively introduction to the man and his times, setting them in the context of a decaying and ramshackle empire and an ideology long since betrayed by its professed followers. Simply and clearly, it follows Gorbachev's increasingly desperate attempts to control the forces he unleashed and hold together a state whose days were over. Ultimately, Gorbachev failed yet, as this study concludes, from his revolution arose an historic opportunity to redefine Russia's place in the world and break with a centuries-long autocratic tradition.
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By turns radical, uncertain, ambitious and autocratic, Mikhail Gorbachev and his bid to reform the Soviet Union have shaped the contemporary world. This concise and lively book provides an introduction to the man and his times, setting them in the context of a decaying and ramshackle empire and an ideology long since betrayed by its professed followers. Drawing on the latest memoirs and scholarship, this book follows Gorbachev's increasingly desperate attempts to control the forces he unleashed and hold together a state whose days were over.
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How was it possible for the three tiny Baltic republics to gain their freedom from the Soviet Union, without a single shot being fired or a single stone being thrown at the oppressor? This book is about the implosion of the Soviet Empire. It tells the parallel stories of how the three Baltic republics of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania struggled successfully to gain their freedom, and how the policies pursued by Mikhail Gorbachev served to mobilize and politicize Baltic demands. The authors emphasize unintended consequences that resulted from repeated interventions by Moscow. They develop a loose game theoretic framework for the examination of the struggle. The presentation develops analytical tools and then outlines, as background, features of Gorbachev's reform programme and the history of the states. Three core chapters contain the analysis. The authors' conclusion points to the absence of "politics" in the Soviet system as a main cause of its self-destruction.
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A critical analysis of the economic reforms of Mikhail Gorbachev, which claims that the Soviet leader did little to counter the nation's overindulgence in heavy industry or to combat a burgeoning budget deficit. The resultant economic collapse, it is argued, led to political disintegration.
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• Soviet Policy and the Third World
• Decisions Under Gorbachev
• Afghanistan
• Limits to Power
• The Regional Implications of Gorbachev's "New Political Thinking"
• Soviet Power Projection and Crisis Management
• Soviet Military and Economic Aid
• Soviet Retreat in the 1990s.
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In this inquiry into the Soviet retreat from the Third World, Melvin A. Goodman analyzes Gorbachev's policy from the standpoint of disillusionment with the Third World. He cites, among other reasons for the retreat, the diminished strategic significance of the Third World to current Soviet leadership, the limitations for Soviet power projection in distant areas, and the dilemmas in Moscow's relations with Third World regimes. Goodman contends that Gorbachev's foreign policy shift to achieve a more stable international arena and a less militant Soviet stance allowed Moscow to focus on its internal economic problems. This volume provides the first exploration of Afghanistan as a watershed in Soviet thinking on the Third World and discusses the current Soviet emphasis on conflict management and resolution in Third World states - particularly Afghanistan, Angola, Ethiopia, and Nicaragua. "Gorbachev's Retreat" explains how co-operation with the United States improves Moscow's image in the West and tends to stabilize Third World flash points. Data on Soviet military and economic assistance to the Third World as well as Third World responses to the Soviet policy are also presented. The volume examines Soviet retrenchment and retreat in the Third World; analyzes Gorbachev's decisions relative to Third World relationships; zeroes in on the withdrawal from Afghanistan; explores some of the reasons for Soviet power limitations; and assesses the regional implications of Gorbachev's "New Political Thinking". It then looks at Soviet power projection and crisis management, Soviety military and economic aid, and Soviet retreat in the 1990s. The volume should be particularly useful to undergraduate and graduate courses in foreign policy and international relations as a discussion of the impact of the new Soviet policy in the Third World and the consequences for US Soviet relations.
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In this long-awaited memoir, Mikhail Gorbachev looks back on a lifetime that mirrors the fate of the Russian people. From the persecution of his family under Stalin to his first political steps to his extraordinary rise within the Communist Party, Gorbachev recounts the events that led to his own disillusionment, without which the eventual implosion of communism would not have taken place. of photos.
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• Preface Words of Gorbachev World in Transition - The End of the Cold War Issyk-Kul Forum (Speech 20 October 1986) Murmansk Initiative (Speech 1 October 1987) Freedom of Choice (speech to 43rd U.N. General Assembly Session, 7 December 1988) Europe as a Common Home (Council of Europe 6 July 1989) Grim Legacy of Old (Speech at 28th Communist Party Congress 2 July 1990 Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech (10 December 1990) Address to the Global Forum on Environment and Development for Survival (Moscow, 19 January 1990) The Nobel Lecture (Speech- 5 June 1991) Final Televised Address as President of the USSR (25 December 1991) Speech at the Opening of the Fourth International Global Forum of Spiritual and Parliamentary Leaders (20 April 1993) What Made Me a Crusader (Op-ed- Time Special Issue, November 1997) Nature Will Not Wait (World Watch Magazine, March/April 2001) Weapons of Mass Destruction: Free World The Importance of Chemical Weapons Abolition (Speech- Geneva Forum on the Worldwide Destruction of Chemical Weapons, 26 June 2003) Address for Second Rally for International Disarmament, Nuclear, Biological and Chemical (6-8 May 2008) The Nuclear Threat (Op-ed- Wall Street Journal, 31 January 2007) Speech at Overcoming Nuclear Dangers Conference (16 April 2009) Disarmament Lessons from the Chemical Weapons Convention (Op-ed- Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 16 June 2009) Two First Steps on Nuclear Weapons (op-ed- NY Times, 25 September 2009) Resetting the Nuclear Disarmament Agenda (Speech at the United Nations in Geneva, 5 October 2009) The Ice Has Broken (Op-ed- NY Times, 22 April 2010) Address for the Nobel Peace Laureates Forum (12-14 November 2010) The Senate's Next Task: Ratifying the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (op-ed- NY Times- 28 December 2010) Green Agenda Climate Challenge The New Path to Peace and Sustainability (Article- El Pais, 30 January 2004) A New Glasnost for Global Sustainability (Article- The Optimist April 2004) Energy Shift, Now (Forum 2004, 2 June 2004) The Third Pillar of Sustainable Development (Preface to Toward a Sustainable World: The Earth Charter in Action, 2005) The Lessons of Chernobyl (Interview- The Optimist April 2006) Interview with the House Magazine (2006) Foreword to Antarctica: The Global Warming (October 2006) Mikhail Gorbachev on World Food Crisis (Op-ed- Rossiskaya Gazeta daily 13 May 2008) Failure in Copenhagen would be 'catastrophic risk': Gorbachev (Interview- Agence France-Presse, 3 December 2009) Address to the Club of Rome (26 October 2009) Tear Down This Wall! And Save the Planet (Op-ed- The Times, 9 November 2009) Playing Russian Roulette with Climate Change (Op-ed- Project Syndicate, 3 December 2009) We Have a Real Emergency (Op-ed- NY Times, 9 December 2009) After Copenhagen: A New Leadership Challenge (Op-ed- GCI website, 22 December 2009) Let's Get Serious About Climate Talks (Op-ed- NY Times, 3 November 2010) Water for Peace A New Glasnost for Our Future: The Right to Water and Dignified Life (Speech- World Urban Forum, 13 September 2004) Our Common Future (Speech- La Plata Basin Dialogues, 12 September 2005) Access to Water is Not a Privilege, it's a Right (Article- The Optimist, 2005) All of Us Should be Ashamed (Op-ed- Financial Times, 21 March 2007) Climate Change and Water Security: Solving the Equation (Op-ed- Project Syndicate, 6 June 2007) Foreword to Water for Peace - Peace for Water (Article- 2008) Tomorrow May be Too Late to Address Water Crisis (Speech- 'Peace with Water' conference, 12 February 2009) The Right to Water (Op-ed- NY Times 16 July 2010) CSA Interview with Mikhail Gorbachev (Autumn 2010) Word on Gorbachev Contributors - Shimon Peres George Bush Sr. Ruud Lubbers F. W. de Klerk Dr. Jan Kulczyk Federico Mayor Zaragoza Mario Soares Maurice Strong Martin Lees Ted Turner Achim Steiner Diane Meyer Simon Dr. Ismail Serageldin Guido Pollice Rabbi Awraham Soetendorp Sir David King Shoo Iwasaki Jean-Michel Cousteau Steven Rockefeller Charles & Diane Gallagher Sergei Kapitsa Alexander Likhotal Pat Mitchell & Scott Seydel Ricardo Lagos Margaret Thatcher.
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Mikhail Gorbachev is living proof that the word is mightier than the sword; that ideas, not armies, change the world. Dedicated to ridding humanity of the threat of nuclear annihilation, Gorbachev called for multilateral action to forge a common future at a time when the superpowers were at loggerheads. Two key words, Perestroika and Glasnost, characterised his philosophy - words that came to represent change and freedom in the universal consciousness. Gorbachev's radical thought ignited sweeping reforms in the Soviet Union, inspired liberation movements across Eastern Europe, and thawed decades of Cold War enmity. For Gorbachev, environmental matters have always been inextricably bound up with peace, security and social justice. The transition from head of state of the USSR to president of a non-governmental organisation, Green Cross International, was therefore a natural one. "Mikhail Gorbachev: Prophet for Change" traces the evolution of his vision, in particular the origins and outcomes of his environmental agenda, which belong to the important legacy of the changes Gorbachev initiated in the Soviet Union and the world. Without these critical initiatives, the many advances of today's global environmental movement would not have been possible. This anthology, featuring select speeches and writings, as well as tributes from political contemporaries and partners in the environmental and peace movements, has been compiled by Green Cross International to celebrate Gorbachev's 80th birthday. The tributes from colleagues and friends - ranging from political heavyweights George Bush and Margaret Thatcher to renowned champions of sustainability Maurice Strong and Achim Steiner - reflect the esteem in which Mikhail Gorbachev is held, and the special place he occupies in the history of our times.
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• * To my readers * Preface: Perestroika and the future * Trying to bury me * I After Perestroika * II Whither Russia? * III Today's uneasy world * Conclusion * Reflections of an optimist * Index.
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Originally published in Russian as Posle Kremlya, Moskva: Ves Mir, 2014.
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After years of rapprochement, the relationship between Russia and the West is more strained now than it has ever been in the past 25 years. Putin's motives, his reasons for seeking confrontation with the West, remain for many a mystery. Not for Mikhail Gorbachev. In this new work, Russia's elder statesman draws on his wealth of knowledge and experience to reveal the development of Putin's regime and the intentions behind it. He argues that in order to further his own personal power, Putin has corrupted the achievements of perestroika and created a system which offers no future for Russia. Faced with this, Gorbachev advocates a radical reform of politics and new fostering of pluralism and social democracy. Gorbachev's insightful analysis moves beyond internal politics to address wider problems in the region, including the Ukraine conflict, as well as the global challenges of poverty and climate change. Above all else, he insists that solutions are to be found by returning to the atmosphere of dialogue and cooperation which was so instrumental in ending the Cold War. This book represents the summation of Gorbachev's thinking on the course that Russia has taken since 1991 and stands as a testament to one of the greatest and most influential statesmen of the 20th century.
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The perestroika years have awakened new hopes among the Soviet people for change and prosperity in their country. In this book, Raisa Gorbachev, wife of the President of the USSR, gives her own spontaneous and personal response to the changes taking place in the Soviet Union, reflecting on her life and how her husband's reforms are restoring dignity to the nation, and discussing the role of women and the family and the newly-found religious tolerance in the USSR.
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Raisa Gorbachev speaks candidly about her life--her childhood, her university days, her marriage, and her experiences as First Lady of the Soviet Union--and offers her views on the present situation in her country and her hopes for the future. 28 pages of photographs, 8 in color.
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• Preface - after the putsch
• mending the breach
• reinforcements from the Second Front
• on a crumbling verge
• president without a country
• one last mission for the Union
• on the eve of the 74th anniversary of the great October Revolution
• the mirage of a confederal state
• a free man with nothing to fear
• "a cloud in trousers"
• fight to the finish
• final hours
• checking the pulse
• last rites
• burying a time-capsule
• departure
• afterword - a mythical kingdom vanishes, again.
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As Press Secretary to Mikhail Gorbachev, Andrei Grachev witnessed and recorded many events unobserved by the general public. In this book he recounts some of these episodes in detail, interpreting them in the context of the time. The topics include top-level meetings with Western leaders, State Council debates on a new treaty of union, and Gorbachev's private talks with leading members of government, business, and religious and cultural circles from around the world.
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The sudden ending of the Cold War, surely the dominant feature of the second half of the 20th century, continues to be one of the most unexpected and perplexing events of our time. Explanations provided by the winners and losers in the Cold War differ considerably and often contradict each other. Even taken together they do not provide a compelling answer to the key question: why did it happen?"Gorbachev's Gamble" offers a new and more convincing answer to this question by providing the missing link between the internal and external aspects of Gorbachev's perestroika. Andrei Grachev shows that the radically transformed Soviet foreign policy during the Gorbachev years was an integral part of an ambitious project of internal democratic reform and of the historic opening of Soviet society to the outside world. Grachev explains the motives and the intentions of the initiators of this project and describes their hopes and their illusions. He recounts the story of the internal debates and struggles in the Kremlin and behind-the-scene decisions that led to the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the break-up of the Warsaw Pact and eventually the demise of the Soviet Union itself.The book is based on exclusive interviews with the leaders of the Soviet Union including Gorbachev, personal notes and diaries of their assistants and advisers and transcripts of the discussions inside the Politburo and Secretariat of the Central Committee. Together they constitute a multi-voice political confession of a whole generation of decision-makers and opinion leaders of the Soviet Union that enables us better to understand the origin and the breathtaking trajectory of the events that led to the end of the Cold War and the unprecedented transformation of world politics in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)