At the highest levels : the inside story of the end of the Cold War / Michael R. Beschloss and Strobe Talbott.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Beschloss, Michael R.

Contributor:

Talbott, Strobe.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Bush, George, 1924-2018.

Bush, George.

Gorbachev, Mikhail Sergeevich, 1931-2022.

Gorbachev, Mikhail Sergeevich.

Bush, George 1924-.

Gorbačëv, Mihail Sergeevič 1931-.

United States--Foreign relations--Soviet Union.

United States.

International relations.

Soviet Union.

Soviet Union--Foreign relations--United States.

Cold War.

United States--Foreign relations--1989-1993.

Soviet Union--Foreign relations--1985-1991.

Diplomatic relations.

United States--Foreign relations--1989-.

Local Subjects:

Bush, George 1924-.

Gorbačëv, Mihail Sergeevič 1931-.

Soviet Union--Foreign relations--1985-1991.

United States--Foreign relations--Soviet Union.

United States--Foreign relations--1989-.

Soviet Union--Foreign relations--United States.

Cold War.

Physical Description:

xiv, 498 pages ; 25 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Boston : Little, Brown, [1993]

Summary:

"This is a story that you did not read in the newspapers. At the Highest Levels reveals a hitherto secret dimension of the most momentous event of our time: the end of the Cold War. Beschloss and Talbott show us the vital transactions that George Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev made and concealed from the world: Bush's pledge not to press Gorbachev for Baltic independence, the manipulations for German unification, how the Soviet Union joined the Gulf War Coalition, Bush's private warnings to Gorbachev that he was about to be overthrown, and the U.S. president's secret efforts to prevent the breakup of the Soviet Union and keep Gorbachev in power." "From early in 1989, the two prizewinning authors were granted unprecedented access to classified U.S. and Soviet documents, cables, telephone transcripts, and diplomatic records, on the condition that they not publish the information before the end of 1992. Such was their access that in the final days before the Soviet Union's collapse, as they relate in this book, Beschloss and Talbott were asked by a Gorbachev confidant to convey to President Bush a private message about Gorbachev's fate under Boris Yeltsin." "With novelistic detail and intimacy, At the Highest Levels shows Bush and Gorbachev behind closed doors as they fence with domestic foes and suspicious allies. It demonstrates how the two leaders came to believe that their most dangerous opponents were no longer each other but forces inside their own countries. As Beschloss and Talbott argue, the two leaders' excessive reliance on each other contributed to Gorbachev's fall from power in December 1991 and Bush's own collapse less than a year later."--Jacket.

Contents:

"His heart is in the right place"

"I don't want to do anything dumb"

"More! You must do more!"

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 475-476) and index.

ISBN:

0316092819

9780316092814

OCLC:

26809965