ORIGINAL: Chickenboy
ORIGINAL: warspite1
So I finally finished Gorbachev.
I'm just curious when the book was written. If post-2010 or so, I'd be suspicious that the old revisionist tendencies of the old (and newer) Soviet...erm...Russian state had reared their heads again.
According to modern Putin-centric narratives, the collapse of the Soviet Union was an utter catastrophe. Boris Yeltsin was a complete stooge and Gorbachev misguided at the best or traitorous at the worst-allowing 'the West' to let the Soviet Union crumble while they enjoyed the show. Putin and Putinism is the modern savior and anything that counters that omniscient / omnipotence needs to be...well...rewritten.
warspite1
The book was written in 2017 I believe. But no, there are no 'revisionist tendencies'. In the final analysis its very much a pro-Gorbachev book but also appears balanced and is not afraid to criticise and question some of his decisions.
Because its a book about him - his life and times - its not a blow by blow account of the USSR 1985-1991, hence my comment about needing to have read more about the background before being able to properly evaluate the man himself and truly understand some of the things being written.
The main takeaways I
personally have of this book - and I accept this is based on one book plus whatever I can recall from the papers at the time - is that:
- Gorbachev faced a mammoth task (the USSR was in a total mess)
- He wanted freedoms for the people and a better quality of life but didn't really know how to achieve it - he still believed in Communism (just not the awful version the USSR had cobbled together)
- The job - as was emphatically proven by Yeltsin - was too big and to succeed needed someone far more capable than either Yeltsin or Gorbachev.
- He was genuinely a man of peace who did not think going to war was the way to resolve issues
- The west, and the old Warsaw Pact countries, owe him a debt of gratitude. He could have handled the Eastern European countries and the unification of Germany
very differently
- No one seems to have a definitive answer on whether he was responsible for sending troops into Lithuania, but given his previous MO I am prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt.
- His relationship with his wife and family was touching and emphasises his humanity.
As for any commentary on Putin and the current regime, I will say nothing as that is modern day politics.
; Julia Child
