The second Russian revolution: Despatches from the front

Tolstoy struggled with the questions of the impact of historic events on great leaders and vice versa. In the case of Mikhail Gorbachev, is he the product of a failed ideology and a bankrupt economic theory? Or is he that rare character, a true leader who anticipates and therefore conditions history? Inspired by such questions, United States Senator Gary Hart set out to unearth the answers - from within the Soviet Union itself. Over many months and many visits to the Soviet Union he has interviewed several individuals who, collectively, brought Gorbachev to power. The book is the biography of an idea - fundamental reform. Stalin and Kruschev stand condemned, the Brezhnev era is now seen as stagnant and corrupt. But Andropov - hitherto much reviled in the West - managed in his brief tenure to elevate the Gorbachev cadre to power.