Retrospective reflections from the last President of Soviet Russia
(1989-91). Gorbachev has some pertinent and intelligent things to
say about Tsarist Russia (not as backward as it was portrayed) and
the Bolshevik Revolution (inevitable, and necessary to modernize
Russia). He also argues that the very existence of the USSR,
despite its blemishes, served to keep unrestrained capitalism on
the leash for over 70 years and that it was only the aberration of
Stalinism that extinguished the development of socialism in Russia.
He examines why the Soviet Union collapsed so comprehensively in
1989-91 and defends his own role in perestroika. In the last
section of the book he explores the problems of NATO expansion,
nuclear weapons proliferation, environmental degradation and the
proper role of the UN. (Kirkus UK)
Here is the whole sweep of the Soviet experiment and experience
as told by its last steward. Drawing on his own experience, rich
archival material, and a keen sense of history and politics,
Mikhail Gorbachev speaks his mind on a range of subjects concerning
Russia's past, present, and future place in the world. Here is
Gorbachev on the October Revolution, Gorbachev on the Cold War, and
Gorbachev on key figures such as Lenin, Stalin, and Yeltsin.
The book begins with a look back at 1917. While noting that
tsarist Russia was not as backward as it is often portrayed,
Gorbachev argues that the Bolshevik Revolution was inevitable and
that it did much to modernize Russia. He strongly argues that the
Soviet Union had a positive influence on social policy in the West,
while maintaining that the development of socialism was cut short
by Stalinist totalitarianism. In the next section, Gorbachev
considers the fall of the USSR. What were the goals of perestroika?
How did such a vast superpower disintegrate so quickly? From the
awakening of ethnic tensions, to the inability of democrats to
unite, to his own attempts to reform but preserve the union,
Gorbachev retraces those fateful days and explains the origins of
Russia's present crisis.
But Gorbachev does not just train his critical eye on the past.
He lays out a blueprint for where Russia needs to go in the next
century, suggesting ways to strengthen the federation and achieve
meaningful economic and political reforms. In the final section of
the book, Gorbachev examines the "new thinking" in foreign policy
that helped to end the Cold War and shows how such approaches could
help resolve a range of current crises, including NATO expansion,
the role of the UN, the fate of nuclear weapons, and environmental
problems.
"Gorbachev: On My Country and the World" reveals the unique
vision of a man who was a powerful actor on the world stage and
remains a keen observer of Russia's experience in the twentieth
century.
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