From Washington to Moscow : US-Soviet relations and the collapse of the USSR / Louis Sell.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Sell, Louis, 1947-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

United States--Foreign relations--Soviet Union.

United States.

Soviet Union--Foreign relations--United States.

Soviet Union.

Soviet Union--History--1985-1991.

Soviet Union--History--1953-1985.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (417 pages)

Place of Publication:

Durham : Duke University Press, 2016.

Summary:

When the United States and the Soviet Union signed the first Strategic Arms Limitation Talks accords in 1972 it was generally seen as the point at which the USSR achieved parity with the United States. Less than twenty years later the Soviet Union had collapsed, confounding experts who never expected it to happen during their lifetimes. In From Washington to Moscow veteran US Foreign Service officer Louis Sell traces the history of US–Soviet relations between 1972 and 1991 and explains why the Cold War came to an abrupt end. Drawing heavily on archival sources and memoirs—many in Russian—as well as his own experiences, Sell vividly describes events from the perspectives of American and Soviet participants. He attributes the USSR's fall not to one specific cause but to a combination of the Soviet system's inherent weaknesses, mistakes by Mikhail Gorbachev, and challenges by Ronald Reagan and other US leaders. He shows how the USSR's rapid and humiliating collapse and the inability of the West and Russia to find a way to cooperate respectfully and collegially helped set the foundation for Vladimir Putin’s rise.

Contents:

Preface: two treaties, two eras

First visit to the USSR: things are not as they seem

Leonid Brezhnev: power and stagnation

Repression and resistance

The Nixon years

A tale of two cities: Vladivostok and Helsinki

The unhappy presidency of Jimmy Carter

Two crises and an Olympiad

Interregnum: Andropov in power

Ronald Reagan's first administration

Eagle vs. bear: US and Soviet approaches to strategic arms control

Mikhail Gorbachev

Gorbachev ascendant

New kid on the block: Gorbachev emerges in US-Soviet relations

I guess I should say Michael: the turn in US-Soviet relations

1989: year of miracles or time of troubles?

Stumbling toward collapse: Gorbachev's final eighteen months

The August coup

Red star falling August coup aftermath

Why did the USSR collapse?.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780822374008

0822374005

OCLC:

1139367191