Gorbachev

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In the first comprehensive biography of Mikhail Gorbachev, William Taubman shows how a peasant boy clambered to the top of a system designed to keep people like him down, found common ground with America s arch conservative president Ronald Reagan, and permitted the USSR and its East European empire to break apart without using force to preserve them Drawing on interviews with Gorbachev himself, transcripts and documents from the Russian archives, and interviews with Kremlin aides and adversaries, Taubman s intensely personal portrait extends to Gorbachev s remarkable marriage to a woman he deeply loved Nuanced and poignant, yet unsparing and honest, this sweeping account has all the amplitude of a great Russian novel. New Download Gorbachev [ author ] William Taubman [ Kindle ePUB or eBook ] – kino-fada.fr Who is Mikhail Gorbachev Why did he set the Soviet Union on its ambitious and tragically doomed course of reform Thirty years after his resignation and the dissolution of the Soviet Union, he is still inscrutable When the author asked him, he answered in the third person that Gorbachev is hard to understand Taubman, an established historian and biographer his Khruschev is excellent , takes a Tolstoyan approach to Gorbachev s life He makes a reference to this in the first chapter, t Who is Mikhail Gorbachev Why did he set the Soviet Union on its ambitious and tragically doomed course of reform Thirty years after his resignation and the dissolution of the Soviet Union, he is still inscrutable When the author asked him, he answered in the third person that Gorbachev is hard to understand Taubman, an established historian and biographer his Khruschev is excellent , takes a Tolstoyan approach to Gorbachev s life He makes a reference to this in the first chapter, titled Childhood, Boyhood, and Youth But he also kept in mind the passages in War and Peace on how kings are a slave to history When he took the position of General Secretary in 1985, he was the head of state of the largest single nation on earth, with the largest nuclear arsenal, the largest army, and had...This is an authoritative biography of a man who changed the course of history towards the end of the 20th century.It gave me a much greater understanding of who Gorbachev is and how he managed to change the contours of his country For anyone who does not believe that people can alter the course of world events this biography surely disproves that.He was born in 1931 in the Stalinist Soviet Union, came of age during the Khrushchev era, and became a bureaucratic apparatchik during the reign of Br This is an authoritative biography of a man who changed the course of history towards the end of the 20th century.It gave me a much greater understanding of who Gorbachev is and how he managed to change the contours of his coun...William Taubman has written an excellent biography of Mikhail Gorbachev 1931 Taubman describes how MG went from the son of a peasant from a remote province to the leader of the Soviet Union.The first third of the book is about MG s early years The next part of the book reveals his rise to power Taubman reports that gradually MG saw that use of force had solved nothing MG began to question the massive over centralization of the Soviet system In 1983 on a trip to Canada he discussed with William Taubman has written an excellent biography of Mikhail Gorbachev 1931 Taubman describes how MG went from the son of a peasant from a remote province to the leader of the Soviet Union.The first third of the book is about MG s early years The next part of the book reveals his rise to power Taubman reports that gradually MG saw that use of force had solved nothing MG began to question the massive over centralization of the Soviet system In 1983 on a trip to Canada he discussed with the Soviet Ambassador to Canada Alexander Yakovlev 1923 2005 , his concerns Yakovlev would become an archite...Mikhail Gorbachev is an extraordinary man, and this is an extraordinary book Gorbachev is in a sense too good for his times and his country A man who grew up on a farm during the starving time of the German invasion of Russia, he became an excellent student and a leader when the war ended and he was able to go to school He believed in Communism, but he loved to sing and act He was able to ...To understand the collapse of the Soviet Union, one must understand Gorbachev at least to what extent he can be understood , and this magnificent biography makes great strides toward achieving that To survive the political in fighting so common in Soviet circles was an achievement itself for the rural born future leader of the Soviet Union, to move the country in a new direction Perestroika Glasnost despite resistance from the hard liners and widespread skepticism was monumental Tragically, To understand the collapse of the Soviet Union, one must understand Gorbachev at least to what extent he can be understood , and this magnificent biography makes great strides toward achieving that To survive the political in fighting so common in Soviet circles was an achievement itself for the rural born future leader of the Soviet Union, to move the country in a new direction Perestroika Glasnost despite resistance from the hard liners and widespread skepticism was monumental Tragically, he created bitter enemies such as Yeltsin who did not share Gorbachev s commitment to the grand vision of a genuinely reformed socialist state, and it would prove fatal to that vision Ultimately it would be outside variables, such as the price of oil plummeting, that would send the Soviet Union into its final downward spiral and demise A tottering fragile system that was ill prepared for the transition to capitalism and democracy simply couldn t continue to absorb shocks Add Gorbachev and his reluct...An excellent biography of Gorbachev Especially clear and vivid in the earliest chapters after his political career begins, it easily meanders into the morass of bureaucracy, which Taubman does not quite sufficiently untangle for the reader Even so, with so much experience in interviewing Gorbachev and his associates, Taubman has produced a very high quality book sympathetic, but without glossing over Gorbachev s missteps attentive to the logic and experiences that drove his decisions and An excellent biogr...What a fantastic biography It doesn t seem likely that anyone will be able to top this, given that Taubman interviewed Gorbachev so many times, and the subject is now 86 A very good companion volume, also, to Odd Arne Westad s The Cold War that just came out There are many touching moments describi...Taubman s biography of Mikhail Sergeievitch Gorbachev is up to the very high standards he set in his life of Kruschev, which won him a Pulitzer Prize He has me convinced that the two most significant statesmen of the latter twentieth century were Deng Xiao Ping and Gorbachev Both faced similar situations Both had to lead a great or world power that...This is a fascinating story of an extremely interesting man I remember Gorbachev s leadership of the USSR in the late 80 s and early 90 s, but this book provides lots of insights that I hadn t previously been aware of Taubman quotes Gorbachev himself as saying that he s not easy to understand he led his country through confusing times and often behaved in contradictory ways This book made me realize that the situation during the final years of the USSR was confusing and perhaps scary even This is a fascinating story of an extremely interesting man I remember Gorbachev s leadership of the USSR in the late 80 s and early 90 s, but this book provides lots of insights that I hadn t previously been aware of Taubman quotes Gorbachev himself as saying that he s not easy to understand he led his country through confusing times and often behaved in contradictory ways This book made me realize that ...In 2017, William Taubman, published his book Gorbachev His Life and Times in 2017 He spent 11 years writing this exceptional book Gorbachev was a renown visionary and remarkable architect of social democratic reform He influenced the principles for modern world order and economic advancement Taubman s research is comprehensive and his writing engaging I consider this book a treasure in my collection of biographies Taubman is a Pulitizer Prize winner for his biography about Khrushchev In 2017, William Taubman, published his book Gorbachev His Life and Times in 2017 He spent 11 years writing this exceptional book Gorbachev was a renown visionary and remarkable architect of social democratic r...

Gorbachev
  • 23 November 2017
  • Paperback
  • 880 pages
  • 0393356205
  • William Taubman
  • Gorbachev