General Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party and political reformer; winner of the Nobel Peace Prize and the force behind perestroika; Mikhail Gorbachev was arguably the most important statesman of the twentieth century. Providing a balanced account of the complexities of politics in the U.S.S.R. during a period of remarkable change; The Gorbachev Factor tells the gripping story of Gorbachev's rise and fall; a story full of intrigue; secret meetings; and power struggles. Archie Brown; one of the world's leading authorities on Gorbachev and the first Western writer to predict his importance; sets out to comprehend the evolution of Gorbachev's thinking and to identify and evaluate his personal contribution to change in Soviet politics. He analyzes the thrust of Gorbachev's domestic and foreign policy; looks at the sources of his new ideas; and assesses his contribution to the radical changes that took place in the Soviet Union. Brown shows how Gorbachev moved beyond reform of the Soviet system to the demolition of a number of its pillars. In the process of describing Gorbachev; Brown also provides portraits of Soviet leaders through the years--Brezhnev; Andropov; Chernenko; and even Lenin and Stalin--and charts the influence of such Russian luminaries as Eduard Shevardnadze and Boris Yeltsin. Perceptive and controversial; The Gorbachev Factor paints a vivid picture of a man and seven years that have changed the course of the twentieth century; offering fascinating insights into the beliefs; political style; and powers of Mikhail Gorbachev.
#1562590 in Books 2015-11-15 2015-11-15Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 13.40 x 1.30 x 10.00l; 5.80 #File Name: 191086000X360 pages
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. No new theses for the map scholar; but it serves as a fine introduction to the history of European cartography and explorationBy Gene Rhea TuckerThe Mapmakers’ World is a coffee-table–style book that aims for an educated readership; sort of a condensed; color-image–filled complement to various volumes of The History of Cartography by the University of Chicago Press. Providing aid to the author; Marjo T. Nurminen (an archaeologist by training); is her map-collecting husband Juha Nurminen (editor-in-chief) and an “expert advisory panel†consisting of names familiar to historians of maps and discoveries: Peter Barber; Evelyn Edson; Günter Schilder; and Tony Campbell. (Owen F. Witesman and Erik Miller translated the work into English from the original Finnish.) The result is a large volume of about super royal octavo size (13½″ x 10″); an inch and a half thick; with hundreds of images of maps; portraits; and other illustrations. Nurminen’s narrative history traces the cultural development of the European world map from medieval times to the seventeenth century; with forays to ancient times and the 1800s. The text rests on a wide study of the scholarly secondary literature and abounds in numerous fine color illustrations; many filling an entire page or spanning two. Though The Mapmakers’ World offers no new theses or conclusions to the seasoned map scholar; it serves as a fine introduction and adjunct to the history of European cartography and exploration.The Mapmakers’ World is interesting; lucidly written; and elegantly illustrated with maps and images. As a refresher on the European map and its cultural meaning from the medieval to the modern era; it is grand. The illustrations are superb; Nurminen and her team have chosen many great exemplars from a number of archives. As a showpiece and a general history it is an excellent; scholarly secondary source. A comprehensive bibliography; divided by chapter; a list of images; and index round out the text. The Mapmakers’ World might serve well as a general introduction for an undergraduate cartography course; but graduate students would be better served by directly accessing the work of the scholars in the bibliography. Scholars of cartography and exploration have trod this ground before; but they would still enjoy the text and presentation.3.5 out of 5 stars
