Exhaustive (600+ pages in pb) account of the Gorbachev era in the USSR, with a detailed examination of what he was up against in attempting to turn things around. While Smith is rather sympathetic to Gorbachev (especially in the final chapter), he doesn't shy away from pointing out the numerous errors he made. It's questionable whether any man could really have tackled the job and kept the state going, intact. Personally, I prefer his previous book "The Russians." This was informative, but an awfully hard slog. ( )

A better title for this book would be, "The Life and Times of M. S. Gorbachov." It is a political history of the transition years of 1985-1990 and how the Communist Party was forced by economic rot to release its strangle hold on political power. We all know what happened generally during this period; Smith documents the actual debates, the struggle for power, and the step-by-step move away from Stalinism. I particularly appreciated Smith's recording of his interviews with political figures and the "man in the street" alike. He is fluent in Russian and has the reporter's eye. Most readers (including me) will get a bit lost with all the names -- kinda like reading Tolstoy. The cast is huge. But the center of it all -- with all his faults and failures -- is Gorbachov himself. He was the catalyst for change; he was also in the right place at the right time.

Läsvärd och träffande är denna bok om hur det nya Ryssland och alla dess karaktärer ser ut. Minnesvärda och personliga berättelser! ( )

Read the book a long time ago, too long to give a proper review. In time, I'll re-read it and give my opinion. ( )