…[Taubman's] masterly new biography…will surely stand as the definitive English-language chronicle of this most intriguing figure for many years to come. Taubman…delivers another richly layered portrait of a Russian leader determined to reform a thoroughly corrupt and dysfunctional society, only to be swept away by forces he could not control…Taubman took on the project with characteristic care. He benefited from archival research and the many memoirs written by people around Gorbachev, as well as the essential diary of Anatoly Chernyayev, one of Gorbachev's closest advisers. He also conducted interviews with several key players, including eight sessions with Gorbachev himself over the course of several years. What emerges is the portrait of a leader who is vain, impatient and at times petulant, but also wise and thoughtful, a complicated man for a complicated time.
Gorbachev: His Life and Times
Narrated by Henry Strozier
William TaubmanUnabridged — 32 hours, 45 minutes
Gorbachev: His Life and Times
Narrated by Henry Strozier
William TaubmanUnabridged — 32 hours, 45 minutes
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Overview
Longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction
The definitive biography of the transformational Russian leader by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Khrushchev.
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.
"Essential reading for the twenty-first [century]."-New York Times Book Review
Editorial Reviews
★ 07/31/2017
Taubman (Khrushchev), emeritus professor of political science at Amherst College, retraces Mikhail Gorbachev’s strenuous climb up the Communist Party ladder to focus on his turmoil-ridden years as last general secretary from 1985 to 1991. A tragic hero who struggled to reject the “Bolsheviks’ bloody way of doing things” and nonviolently reconstruct his country’s political system and ideology, Gorbachev found himself head of a state over which he had no control. Relying on transcripts of Politburo meetings, Taubman writes energetically of Kremlin hard-liners’ attempts to derail the reformer as he coped with rising regional nationalism, economic collapse, and other disasters. Gorbachev was caught off guard by the fall of the Berlin Wall and bewildered by Boris Yeltsin’s rising popular appeal. Desperate for support he traveled to the West with his stylish and erudite wife, Raisa, whose charm helped take some chill off the Cold War. Meanwhile, political rifts deepened at home. In August 1991, a military junta tried to oust him. Under house arrest and fearing for his life, Gorbachev faced the bitter truth that though the West hailed him as statesman of the century, his own citizens despised him. Taubman suggests that Gorbachev might have Westernized Russia had the West given enough support at critical moments. Such conclusions require scrutiny, but do not detract from this definitive volume. (Sept.)
"Essential reading for the 21st century."
"William Taubman has now done for Gorbachev what he had previously done for Khrushchev, giving us the full life deeply grounded in the Soviet and Russian archives, here with the added benefit of Gorbachev’s complete cooperation. Perhaps a hundred years from now, when our perspective on Russia’s role in the world has further clarified, another biography will be needed. For now, however, Gorbachev is the closest thing to the final word that history allows."
"Remarkably, the two most memorable leaders of the Soviet Union in the last half of its existence now have the same superb biographer. William Taubman’s Gorbachev, like his Khrushchev, is an extraordinary achievement, full of new information, filled with shrewd judgments, a two-in-a-row triumph in the writing of great lives."
"William Taubman’s biography of Mikhail Gorbachev is a much needed, uniquely sourced account of the life, work, and times of the man who critically shaped a peaceful end to the Cold War and great Soviet experiment. Based on a unique blend of archival sources, personal memoirs, and a not-to-be-repeated set of interviews with key actors, Taubman’s superbly written portrait will become the essential and standard work on his subject and a primary source for any future historians of this period."
"William Taubman has now done for Gorbachev what he had previously done for Khrushchev, giving us the full life deeply grounded in the Soviet and Russian archives, here with the added benefit of Gorbachev’s complete cooperation. Perhaps a hundred years from now, when our perspective on Russia’s role in the world has further clarified, another biography will be needed. For now, however, Gorbachev is the closest thing to the final word that history allows."
"Magisterial....William Taubman has written a fascinating, perceptive, and compelling account of the life of a brilliant, driven, but flawed leader."
"A masterpiece of narrative scholarship."
"Superb.… Enlightening.…With great skill [Taubman] lays bare the evolution that was so important to [Gorbachev’s] later actions."
"Comprehensive, judicious, utterly absorbing, William Taubman’s Gorbachev: His Life and Times gives us rare insight into the man who changed his country and world politics. A model of careful research and compelling narrative skill, this biography is destined to become a modern classic."
"This will be one of the two or three best books of the year, compulsively readable, fun, and informative all at once."
"Sympathetic in his judgments yet clear-eyed in his criticisms, Taubman has rendered Gorbachev in a vast and complex portrait that will be the standard for years to come."
"William Taubman has written a remarkable book. He has, at once, captured the complexity of the man, while making Gorbachev’s times—both frightening and hopeful—come alive. The history of the USSR and the world would have been far different if Mikhail Gorbachev had not come to power."
"Masterly....[This] richly layered portrait....will surely stand as the definitive English-language chronicle of this most intriguing figure for many years to come."
"Nobody before Taubman has achieved an in-depth psychological portrait…this monumental biography will become the standard personal portrait. Taubman has charmed more out of [Gorbachev] than any of his subordinates ever managed to."
"A meticulously researched, clear-eyed volume that will undoubtedly stand for years as the definitive account of the Soviet Union’s last ruler."
"[Taubman] applies a Tolstoyan lens to Russia’s recent history and displays particular sensitivity in his assessment of a life that would prove richer than politics."
"I have had the privilege of knowing many of the great men and women who brought momentous change to the last part of the twentieth century. My friend Mikhail Gorbachev was outstanding among them. So this biography, especially with its attention to his early formative years, is a great addition to our understanding of a key historical period."
"William Taubman's extraordinary new biography, Gorbachev: His Life and Times, is fly-on-the-wall history….A riveting page-turner….his book is anything but a solemn academic tome. It's gripping."
"Masterful.… Taubman intimately portrays an epic tragic hero of Sophoclean proportion. Gorbachev is likely to be a subject of interest to future historians for centuries, perhaps millennia."
"This is a meticulously researched, carefully nuanced, and immensely readable biography of a remarkable, but insufficiently understood, twentieth-century political leader. Taubman’s book is destined to remain the fullest and most authoritative life of Gorbachev for years to come."
"A rich and revealing portrait and a thoroughly engrossing read, Taubman’s penetrating examination of Gorbachev’s rise and fall undermines the argument that Russia can be ruled only by dictators and autocrats—while also exposing how steeply the odds are stacked against any efforts at real reform."
"A superbly researched story of a politician of such decency as to seem, in our more pessimistic, darker moment, almost beyond imagining."
"[A] deeply penetrating history and engrossing psychological study, Taubman draws on a wide range of sources and interviews…to render every major development of the former Soviet leader’s six-year tenure with depth and completeness."
★ 06/15/2017
The son of peasants, Mikhail Gorbachev (b. 1931), attended university in Moscow during the age of Nikita Khrushchev's "Secret Speech" and rose through the Communist Party ranks to become general secretary. By 1985, he would lead the Soviet Union, transforming the country and the world. Taubman (political science, Amherst Coll., Krushchev: The Man and His Era) examines Gorbachev's life and innovative perspective in this comprehensive biography. Dismal economic and agricultural conditions made it obvious that broad systemic changes were needed in the region. Gorbachev instituted unprecedented openness in governance and economy, trying to strike a balance between those who fought his strategy and others who wanted it to be accelerated. Revered abroad for ending the Cold War and reuniting Europe, Gorbachev was vilified at home as the economy continued to deteriorate. After the Soviet Union disintegrated in 1991, many of his reforms were cast aside. This definitive volume illuminates the leader's personal and political sides with insights from family, friends, enemies, aides, politicians, and Gorbachev himself. VERDICT Readers interested in Cold War history, Russian and Soviet history, political biographies, and how the fall of communism led to current world politics will appreciate this book. [See Prepub Alert, 3/13/17.]—Laurie Unger Skinner, Coll. of Lake Cty., Waukegan, IL
Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940171141004 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Recorded Books, LLC |
| Publication date: | 09/05/2017 |
| Edition description: | Unabridged |
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