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The Resource Gorbachev : his life and times, William Taubman

Gorbachev : his life and times, William Taubman

Creator
Author
Summary
When Mikhail Gorbachev became the leader of the Soviet Union in 1985, the USSR was one of the world’s two superpowers. By 1989, his liberal policies of perestroika and glasnost had permanently transformed Soviet Communism, and had made enemies of radicals on the right and left. By 1990 he, more than anyone else, had ended the Cold War, and in 1991, after barely escaping from a coup attempt, he unintentionally presided over the collapse of the Soviet Union he had tried to save. In the first comprehensive biography of the final Soviet leader, William Taubman shows how a peasant boy became the Soviet system’s gravedigger, how he clambered to the top of a system designed to keep people like him down, how he found common ground with America’s arch-conservative president Ronald Reagan, and how he permitted the USSR and its East European empire to break apart without using force to preserve them. Throughout, Taubman portrays the many sides of Gorbachev’s unique character that, by Gorbachev’s own admission, make him “difficult to understand.” Was he in fact a truly great leader, or was he brought low in the end by his own shortcomings, as well as by the unyielding forces he faced? Drawing on interviews with Gorbachev himself, transcripts and documents from the Russian archives, and interviews with Kremlin aides and adversaries, as well as foreign leaders, Taubman’s intensely personal portrait extends to Gorbachev’s remarkable marriage to a woman he deeply loved, and to the family that they raised together. Nuanced and poignant, yet unsparing and honest, this sweeping account has all the amplitude of a great Russian novel
Language
eng
Work
Publication
Edition
First edition.
Extent
xxv, 852 pages
Isbn
9780393647013
Instance
Label
Gorbachev : his life and times
Title
Gorbachev
Title remainder
his life and times
Statement of responsibility
William Taubman
Creator
Author
Subject
Genre
Language
eng
Summary
When Mikhail Gorbachev became the leader of the Soviet Union in 1985, the USSR was one of the world’s two superpowers. By 1989, his liberal policies of perestroika and glasnost had permanently transformed Soviet Communism, and had made enemies of radicals on the right and left. By 1990 he, more than anyone else, had ended the Cold War, and in 1991, after barely escaping from a coup attempt, he unintentionally presided over the collapse of the Soviet Union he had tried to save. In the first comprehensive biography of the final Soviet leader, William Taubman shows how a peasant boy became the Soviet system’s gravedigger, how he clambered to the top of a system designed to keep people like him down, how he found common ground with America’s arch-conservative president Ronald Reagan, and how he permitted the USSR and its East European empire to break apart without using force to preserve them. Throughout, Taubman portrays the many sides of Gorbachev’s unique character that, by Gorbachev’s own admission, make him “difficult to understand.” Was he in fact a truly great leader, or was he brought low in the end by his own shortcomings, as well as by the unyielding forces he faced? Drawing on interviews with Gorbachev himself, transcripts and documents from the Russian archives, and interviews with Kremlin aides and adversaries, as well as foreign leaders, Taubman’s intensely personal portrait extends to Gorbachev’s remarkable marriage to a woman he deeply loved, and to the family that they raised together. Nuanced and poignant, yet unsparing and honest, this sweeping account has all the amplitude of a great Russian novel
Writing style
Biography type
individual biography
http://library.link/vocab/ext/novelist/bookUI
10574432
Cataloging source
DLC
http://library.link/vocab/creatorName
Taubman, William
Dewey number
  • 947.085/4092
  • B
Illustrations
illustrations
Index
index present
Literary form
non fiction
Nature of contents
bibliography
http://library.link/vocab/resourcePreferred
True
http://library.link/vocab/subjectName
  • Gorbachev, Mikhail Sergeevich
  • Heads of state
  • Soviet Union
Target audience
general
http://bibfra.me/vocab/lite/titleRemainder
his life and times
Label
Gorbachev : his life and times, William Taubman
Instantiates
Publication
Copyright
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references (pages 785-804) and index
Carrier category
volume
Carrier category code
  • nc
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier.
Content category
text
Content type code
  • txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent.
Dimensions
25 cm.
Edition
First edition.
Extent
xxv, 852 pages
Isbn
9780393647013
Lccn
2017015009
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia.
Media type code
  • n
Other physical details
illustrations
System control number
(OCoLC)969386222
Label
Gorbachev : his life and times, William Taubman
Publication
Copyright
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references (pages 785-804) and index
Carrier category
volume
Carrier category code
  • nc
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier.
Content category
text
Content type code
  • txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent.
Dimensions
25 cm.
Edition
First edition.
Extent
xxv, 852 pages
Isbn
9780393647013
Lccn
2017015009
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia.
Media type code
  • n
Other physical details
illustrations
System control number
(OCoLC)969386222

Subject

Genre

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