RaveThe Washington Post...a superb biography ... [Taubman] devotes a full third of this work to Gorbachev’s early years, and with great skill lays bare the evolution that was so important to his later actions ... In his superb summary, Taubman asserts, 'The Soviet Union fell apart when Gorbachev weakened the state in an attempt to strengthen the individual.' Gorbachev’s accomplishments and his struggle are not appreciated today in Russia or the former Soviet republics. But someday, perhaps, a statue will be built to honor a country bumpkin who rose to the moment in history, and shoved totalitarianism into the grave.
Arkady Ostrovsky
PositiveThe Washington PostWhile many previous authors have attempted detailed reconstructions of this history, Ostrovsky takes a different approach, focused more on why events turned out as they did. The reader feels as if on a grand tour, with Ostrovsky at the elbow. His interpretations are erudite, taut and mostly right...Ostrovsky sees Russia as a tangle of ideas, and he pays special attention to how the thinking of the day was reflected on television and in other media. He is particularly good at hearing the nuances and seeing how identity, ideology and personal experience undermined hopes for democracy and reform.
