On My Country and the World / Mikhail Gorbachev.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gorbachev, Mikhail Sergeevich, 1931-2022, Author.

Contributor:

Taubman, William.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Gorbachev, Mikhail Sergeevich, 1931-2022--Political and social views.

Gorbachev, Mikhail Sergeevich.

World politics--1989-.

World politics.

Soviet Union--History--Philosophy.

Soviet Union.

Russia (Federation)--History--1991---Philosophy.

Russia (Federation).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (313 pages)

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Columbia University Press, [2019]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

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 crises. 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 twenty-first 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 crises, including NATO expansion, the role of the UN, the fate of nuclear weapons, and environmental problems. 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.This anniversary edition features a new foreword by William Taubman, award-winning biographer of Khrushchev and Gorbachev.

Contents:

Frontmatter

CONTENTS

FOREWORD TO THE TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY EDITION / Taubman, William

Part one. The October Revolution: Its Sense and Significance

1. A Blunder of History, Accident, or Necessity?

2. Was Socialism Built in the Soviet Union?

3. Let's Not Oversimplify! A Balance Sheet of the Soviet Years

4. October and the World

5. One More Balance Sheet: Something Worth Thinking About

6. October and Perestroika

7. Does Socialism Have a Future?

8. Summing Up

Part two. The Union Could Have Been Preserved

9. A Tragic Turn of Events

10. Tbilisi . . . Baku . . . Vilnius

11. Toward a New Union Treaty

12. Referendum on the Union

13. The Coup: A Stab in the Back-and the Intrigues of Yeltsin

14. The Belovezh Accord: Dissolution of the USSR

15. What Lies Ahead?

Part three. The New Thinking: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

16. The Sources of the New Thinking

17. The Very First Steps

18. The Conception (1985-1991)

19. Overcoming the Cold War

20. The Transitional World Order

21. The New Thinking in the Post-Confrontational World

22. The Challenge of Globalization

23. The Challenge of Diversity

24. The Challenge of Global Problems

25. The Challenge of Power Politics

26. The Challenge of Democracy

27. The Challenge of Universal Human Values

28. The Beginning of History?

Index

Notes:

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 29. Feb 2020)

ISBN:

9780231551069

0231551061

OCLC:

1135418010