Gorbachev: His Life and Times [Hardcover]

Masterly....[This] richly layered portrait....will surely stand as the definitive English-language chronicle of this most intriguing figure for many years to come.A meticulously researched, clear-eyed volume that will undoubtedly stand for years as the definitive account of the Soviet Union's last ruler.Essential reading for the 21st century.Superb....enlightening....with great skill [Taubman] lays bare the evolution that was so important to [Gorbachevs] later actions.Magisterial....William Taubman has written a fascinating, perceptive, and compelling account of the life of a brilliant, driven, but flawed leader.A superbly researched story of a politician of such decency as to seem, in our more pessimistic, darker moment, almost beyond imagining.William Taubman's extraordinary new biography,Sympathetic in his judgments yet clear-eyed in his criticisms, Taubman has rendered Gorbachev in a vast and complex portrait that will be the standard for years to come.[Taubman] applies a Tolstoyan lens to Russias recent history and displays particular sensitivity in his assessment of a life that would prove richer than politics.This will be one of the two or three best books of the year, compulsively readable, fun, and informative all at once.[A] deeply penetrating history and engrossing psychological study....Taubman draws on a wide range of sources and interviews...to render every major development of the former Soviet leaders six-year tenure with depth and completeness.Nobody before Taubman has achieved an in-depth psychological portrait&this monumental biography will become the standard personal portrait. Taubman has charmed more out of [Gorbachev] than any of his subordinates ever managed to.William Taubman has now done for Gorbachev what he had previously done for Khrushchev, giving us the full life deeply grounded in the Soviet and Russian archives, here with the added benefit of Gorbachevs complete cooperation. Perhaps a hundred years from nolă