Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev was a Russian politician. He was the last General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the last head of state of the USSR, serving from 1985 until its collapse in 1991.
Gorbachev's attempts at reform—perestroika and glasnost—as well as summit conferences with United States President Ronald Reagan, contributed to the end of the Cold War, and also ended the political supremacy of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) and led to the dissolution of the Soviet Union. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990. At the time of his death Gorbachev served as the leader of the Union of Social-Democrats, a political party founded after the official dissolution of the Social Democratic Party of Russia on 20 October 2007.
Omaelämäkerrallinen kirja ehkä Neuvostoliiton mielenkiintoisimmasta päättäjästä.
Valitettavasti kirjan kerronta on inasen liian poukkoilevaa ja jaarittelevaa, tosin oletan että tämä on tarkoituksellista: "vaari tässä takkatulen ääressä kertoo aiemmista ajoista".
Kirja käy läpi Gorbatšovin elämän 30-luvun alkupuolelta 2010-luvun alkuun, välillä tarkemmin ja välillä epämääräisemmin. Esimerkiksi Gorbatšovin suhtautuminen Neuvostoliiton ulkopolitiikkaan ennen pääsihteeriksi nousua tai Tshernobylin onnettomuus jäivät aika vaisuiksi. Toisaalta taas Neuvostoliiton kaatuminen ja siihen liittyvät asiat käytiin kirjalle riittävän tarkasti läpi. Tosin nämäkin tapahtumat pitää lukea vielä toisen, ehkä kolmannenkin, näkökulman läpi.
Kaiken kaikkiaan Gorbatšhov on tutustumisen arvoinen henkilö ja tämä kirja sopii siihen mainiosti.
Reading Gorbachev's memoirs was an eye opening experience for me: many of the major events in the book, such as perestroika and the fall of the Soviet Union happened during my childhood so my understanding about them was rather limited. Just to mention one example, I never realized that Yeltsin was Russia's president already during the last years of the Soviet Union.
The book is quite slow paced and the writing isn't always stellar, but in all, it's gripping and interesting. After all, this is one of the most important politicians of our time, looking back to some of the defining moments of where we are today. Also, reading about the behind the scenes of the soviet model of running a country makes it a bit easier to understand Putin's Russia today.