What’s it about?: Biography of Mikhail Gorbachev, former Russian politician who served as the last leader of the Soviet Union, from 1985 until its dissolution in 1991. Looking at his life and career, it was published in 1986.
My opinion: Some great insights into the Soviet system, post-Andropov. It makes for a good timeline of events for Gorbachev, his career beginnings, and how he was elected general secretary. The author’s background as a journalist makes everything easily accessible to the reader: Soviet politics, a general historical overview on Russia from the time of Peter the Great, problems surrounding agriculture, political corruption, and general inefficiency. Schmidt-Hauer does this well, without spending too much time on analysing the workings of the Soviet system.
It is obvious that Gorbachev is a biography of its time. The information appears to be well-sourced, and the author does a decent job aggregating what he has to triangulate at the truth. However, I have been informed by several historians/Kremlinologists/socialist neckbeards that Gorbachev’s autobiography, published years later, is more accurate, with more detail on domestic policy and events. Which makes perfect sense, as Schmidt-Hauer’s biography was published only one year after the man’s appointment as leader of the Soviet Union. Had I read it back then, I would probably default to this work as my primary source on the subject.
It could be interpreted as an insight into how the West perceived Gorbachev, his public diplomacy, restructuring of foreign policy and East-West negotiations, and the Soviet Union in the years leading up to its dissolution, with the sources they had.
But it’s still interesting to read, and worth it as a point of comparison with other works on the subject.
Lawrence Deveney 