William Taubman

A portrait of the head of the Soviet Union whose rule followed Stalin's identifies his impact on the country and the rest of the world, tracing his efforts to reform communism and ease the Cold War.

Khrushchev: The Man and His Era

When Mikhail Gorbachev became the leader of the Soviet Union in 1985, the USSR was one of the world's two superpowers. By 1989 he had transformed Soviet Communism. By 1990 he, more than anyone else, had ended the Cold War, and in December 1991 he unintentionally presided over the collapse of the USSR. In this first comprehensive biography of Gorbachev, William Taubman shows how a peasant boy turned into the Soviet system's grave digger, why the Communist regime allowed him to destroy it, how Gorbachev's dream of democratizing Russia through perestroika and glasnost foundered, and why he permitted Eastern Europe to abandon Communism without conflict. Drawing on interviews with Gorbachev himself, Russian archives, interviews with Kremlin aides and adversaries as well as with foreign leaders, Taubman's intensely personal portrait also extends to Gorbachev's remarkable marriage to a woman he deeply loved. Nuanced and poignant yet unsparing and honest, this sweeping account has the amplitude of a Tolstoy novel.

His Life and Times

Gorbachev

A National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist “Essential reading for the twenty-first [century].” —Radhika Jones, The New York Times Book Review In the first comprehensive biography of Mikhail Gorbachev, William Taubman shows how a peasant boy clambered to the top of a system designed to keep people like him down, found common ground with America’s arch-conservative president Ronald Reagan, and permitted the USSR and its East European empire to break apart without using force to preserve them. Drawing on interviews with Gorbachev himself, transcripts and documents from the Russian archives, and interviews with Kremlin aides and adversaries, Taubman’s intensely personal portrait extends to Gorbachev’s remarkable marriage to a woman he deeply loved. Nuanced and poignant, yet unsparing and honest, this sweeping account has all the amplitude of a great Russian novel.

Gorbachev: His Life and Times

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award The definitive biography of the mercurial Soviet leader who succeeded and denounced Stalin. Nikita Khrushchev was one of the most complex and important political figures of the twentieth century. Ruler of the Soviet Union during the first decade after Stalin's death, Khrushchev left a contradictory stamp on his country and on the world. His life and career mirror the Soviet experience: revolution, civil war, famine, collectivization, industrialization, terror, world war, cold war, Stalinism, post-Stalinism. Complicit in terrible Stalinist crimes, Khrushchev nevertheless retained his humanity: his daring attempt to reform communism prepared the ground for its eventual collapse; and his awkward efforts to ease the cold war triggered its most dangerous crises. This is the first comprehensive biography of Khrushchev and the first of any Soviet leader to reflect the full range of sources that have become available since the USSR collapsed. Combining a page-turning historical narrative with penetrating political and psychological analysis, this book brims with the life and excitement of a man whose story personified his era.

Im Ausland verehrt und bewundert als der Mann, der das Tor zu einem neuen Zeitalter aufstieß, gilt er bei seinen Landsleuten als Schwächling und Totengräber des sowjetischen Imperiums: Michail Gorbatschow ist für die einen ein überragender Staatsmann und für die anderen ein Versager. Pulitzerpreisträger William Taubman legt nun die grundlegende Biographie dieser Jahrhundertgestalt vor – akribisch recherchiert, fundiert im Urteil und fesselnd geschrieben. Als Michail Gorbatschow 1985 mit 54 Jahren jüngster Generalsekretär in der Geschichte der KPdSU wurde, war die Sowjetunion eine von zwei Supermächten. Doch nur vier Jahre später hatten Perestroika und Glasnost die Sowjetunion für immer verändert und Gorbatschow mehr Feinde als Freunde. Seine Politik beendete den Kalten Krieg. Doch im Jahr darauf musste er nach einem gescheiterten Putsch – ohne es zu wollen – dem Kollaps jenes Imperiums zuschauen, das er zu retten versucht hatte. William Taubman schildert in seinem Buch, wie ein Bauernjunge vom Lande es bis an die Spitze im Kreml bringt, sich mit Amerikas erzkonservativem Präsidenten Ronald Reagan anfreundet und es der UdSSR und dem Ostblock erlaubt, sich aufzulösen, ohne Zuflucht zur Gewalt zu nehmen. Wer war dieses „Rätsel Gorbatschow“ – ein wahrhaft großer Politiker oder ein Mann, der an seinen eigenen Fehlern scheiterte und an Mächten, gegen die er nicht gewinnen konnte?

Der Mann und seine Zeit

Gorbatschow

Abbott Gleason

Sergei Khrushchev

Thanks to Soviet secrecy, little was known about former premier Khrushchev during his career or after his ousting. Since the collapse of the USSR, archives have been declassified, allowing access to his memoirs and those of witnesses.

Nikita Khrushchev

Michael Gorbatsjov bracht de grootste omwenteling in de Russische geschiedenis teweeg sinds de Oktoberrevolutie van 1917. De gevolgen waren enorm: de Sovjet-Unie viel uiteen, de Berlijnse muur werd neergehaald, het IJzeren Gordijn opgetrokken. Glasnost. Perestrojka. Even leek de wereld op weg naar blijvende vrede, tot Vladimir Poetin ons teruggebracht naar de realiteit. Dit meesterlijke boek bevat een reconstructie van deze ingrijpende episode uit de recente geschiedenis. Taubman laat in deze allesomvattende biografie zien hoe een plattelandsjongen de grafdelver van het Sovjetsysteem werd, waarom het Kremlin Gorbatsjov liet begaan en hoe zijn droom om Rusland te democratisering uiteindelijk strandde. Taubman put onder meer uit interviews met Gorbatsjov zelf en talloze voor- en tegenstanders van het Kremlin. Gorbatsjov is een meeslepend, genuanceerd, schrijnend en nietsontzeggend portret van een van de belangrijkste figuren uit de 20eeeuw.

William Taubman

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