Gorbachev - Martin McCauley

This is a study of Gorbachev written in the light of his revealing memoirs, which gave Soviet-watchers an intimate view of the realities of Kremlin life in the final years of the USSR. The author uses this and other recent memoirs and archives to give an objective account of what has happened and why during this period of reform, failure and collapse and also an assessment of Gorbachev himself.;It reveals the claustraphobic and personal world of the Soviet leader and analyzes Gorbachev as both poitician and man, reviewing his aims and assessing why his reforms failed and whether they would have succeeded: was he a great leader who came to late or a lightweight?;The text also gives the full history of Glasnost and Perestroika, while revealing how it was Gorbachev's mishandling of the nationalities question that brought him down. It ends with a sustained comparison of the Russian and Chinese experience of economic reform. The story is set in its widest international context with cameo roles for Reagan, Thatcher and Kohl and throughout the figure of Yeltsin undermining Gorbachev's every move.