The Views of the Man Who Ended the Cold War Gail Sheehy. The Man Who Changed the World- The Lives of Mikhail S. Gorbachev.
Mikhail Gorbachev. Perestroika- New Thinking for Our Country and the World. The two books that I am critiquing are about Mikhail Gorbachev and his political policies. The first book is called The Man Who Changed the World- The lives of Mikhail S. Gorbachev by Gail Sheehy. The second is Perestroika- New Thinking for Our Country and the World by Mikhail Gorbachev. Gail Sheehy?s book is a biography of Gorbachev from birth until present times, and it really helps in understanding the second book, Perestroika, which is about Gorbachev?s political policies that turned the Soviet Union upside down. These books complement each other very well. The Man Who Changed the World is a well-covered look at Gorbachev?s life- his roots, his early life, and how he rose into power. It gives some reasoning as to why he is not the typical Russian Communist Party leader. The most startling fact I discovered about Gorbachev is that he is not technically Russian. Both sets of his grandparents were Ukrainian Cossacks. Cossacks were much like the pilgrims were to early America. The Cossacks were groups of people who had escaped from oppressive conditions and migrated north in search of religious and political freedoms.
Gorbachev had rebel blood from the very beginning- and was far from the typical submissive Russian peasant farmer. These people formed their own towns and tried to become self-sufficient in Russia?s mother-land in the south. He was born in 1931, during the heart of the Great Depression, and during some of the worst times that Russia was to experience. Stalin was basically creating a state sponsored famine with the way he was managing the country?s food supply, and the strict rules the people had to abide by. He would take all of their food away for the slightest because he was very suspicious of these independent southern farmers. His grandparents took control of the collective farms that were placed into the area, so Gorbachev was also shown high leadership skills from the day he was born.
The Review on Book report of Man from the South
One day, on an accidental occasion, a stranger is willing to bet with you on one of you skills which is not so critical, and you are likely to win. If you do succeed, according to the serious bet, you can get a quite new limousine from the man which is worth millions of dollars; If not, however, what you have to do is just to dedicate your little finger, which means, have that poor finger chopped ...
He also had a family secret that was rarely ever even hinted about. His grandfather was put on Stalin?s blacklist in 1937, rounded up and sent to work in a prison camp for several years, and then deported from the country. It was something that could not be talked about at all. But the author feels that the shame and wrongfulness of this deed, and the realization that millions of others had suffered the same injustices, was one of the driving forces behind Gorbachev?s need to make amends- his need for change.
The small village where Gorbachev grew up was occupied by the Germans during World War II, or to use the Russian term- The Great Patriotic War. This is when he began learning to speak German. He was an incredibly bright and curious student, and began working for the Party very early in life. He back breaking hard work on the Party?s farms earned him an award of recognition that got him into Moscow State University. During his stay here, he came into the favor of several important members of the aristocracy, and made many solid Party connections. He also had a hard time here dealing with the many Muscovites who were much more financially well off than he was, the author says that these hard days (especially compared to the wealth of his classmates) were the beginning of his disillusionment with socialism and the way his country was functioning. He then met his future wife, Raisa. Raisa was a philosophy student and considered and exceptional beauty. She is even more of a mystery than her husband Gorbachev. She was born and raised in the mountains of Siberia, has a Ukrainian maiden name, and some Mongol features. Other than a few facts, she has been completely closed mouthed about her past.
The Term Paper on How New York Times vs Sullivan changed political thinking
The history of the American nation has been evidently marked with many landmarks legal interpretations of its constitution. The case of New York Times vs. Sullivan is one good example of landmark cases which greatly changed the political thinking of the American population. It is clear from the underlying proceedings of the Supreme Court on the case that the legal understanding of the first and ...
It is no secret that she is a major driving force behind Gorbachev. She was just as educated as he, but studied political thought and theory, while he was studying how to lead a country. She studied the methods that led to political stability and he studied the methods that led to the top of the political ladder. The two of them were a team of highly intelligent and educated individuals. They were a team that changed the world forever. Gorbachev began to excel in several Party organizations, and is rumored to have worked at times for the KGB- the Soviet Union?s secret thought police. This, however, has never been confirmed. Gorbachev became very skilled at mimicking the mannerism that he saw in Stalin, which contributed to his popularity within the Party hierarchy. No one doubted that this young man was the model Communist. He slowly pushed, clawed, grappled, and reasoned his way to the top position in the Soviet Union. Having lived through the Great Depression, The Great Patriotic War, the purges by Stalin of the 1950?s, the power struggle in the 60?s after Stalin?s death, and the continued strain on his country as it struggled to keep up in an arms race it could not win, Gorbachev was by this time a very disillusioned man.
He believed that he knew the political and economic changes that were essential for his country?s survival, and he was willing to take the necessary actions. He had evolved into a reformer, and would attempt to enact several changes that would impact the entire world. The author of this book, Gail Sheehy is an excellent writer. Her style is wonderfully compelling, and very easy to read. She is obviously a fan of Gorbachev?s- this is shown in the choice of words she uses, and I think this is one of her strengths that makes her more of a commanding author. She manages to convey that she is an ardent supporter of Gorbachev, the reforms that he tried to implement, and an admirer of his roots without at all being biased in her fact reporting. Her use of personal sources that were very close to Gorbachev makes this a very believable story. She also builds her own credibility as a writer by her own experiences in the Soviet Union. She paints a very vivid portrait of life in the Soviet Union, and Russia. She conveys how destitute the country was- devoid of any luxury? where a meal with more than one course was practically unheard of, because there just was no food available. These conditions persist, even while the rest of the world is prospering unimaginably in comparison.
The Essay on The Cold War Was There A Soviet Plan To Dominate The World
The Cold War: Was there a Soviet Plan to Dominate the World? (1) In order to be able to positively answer the question about whether Soviet Union strived to dominate and even to conquer the world, one only needs to look at Soviet coat of arms, in which hammer and the sickle are crossed over the globe. Since the time when Soviet Union was founded in 1922, to the time when it collapsed, Soviet ...
The author also does a remarkable job of showing us the enduring spirit of the Russian people, and their kind-hearted, loving, and accepting characters shine through in her writings. She is dealing with an area that has not had much coverage in the media or in history because of the political structure of the Soviet Union. Until recently the United States was engaged in a Cold War with the Communist Soviet Union, and access to these types of interviews, documents and experiences was unthinkable. She has brought out a new way of looking at the recent events that took place in the former Soviet Union by giving an in-depth examination of the man behind them all. The coverage given to Gorbachev?s life is in-depth, well organized, and quite enjoyable to read. Perestroika is a book about Mikhail Gorbachev?s political policies and ideas. Perestroika itself is a Russian word for restructuring. Gorbachev was elected the Supreme Soviet in 1985, and wrote Perestroika to explain to the world what was going on in his country in 1987. He wanted to let the world know what he was trying to achieve with his new policies, why things were changing, and what these changes were. The Soviets were not only concerned with their country, but with the increasing nuclear arms race, they were concerned with the future of the entire planet.
The views and philosophies that Gorbachev expresses in this book are his views, and are based on his values and theories. Perestroika is a collection of his thoughts on the problems and changes his country was facing, what was being done about these issues, and how their complexity effects the entire world.
The book is mercifully devoid of facts, figures, and minute details. It is mainly a book about the new Soviet foreign policy and political philosophy. It explains these changes without a lot of examples and events. It is assumed that the reader has a relative understanding of what was taking place in the world. Perestroika is about the restructuring of Soviet society in order to accelerate economic and social growth in the country. Socialism, as it had been, was not being used to its fullest potential. Many of the vast resources and capital of the Soviet Union were being used inefficiently because the Socialist system they were using was weak and did not suit the needs of the society. However, Gorbachev is very emphatic that this book and the changes that are taking place in his society do not signify a disenchantment with Socialism as a system or its goals at all. It is only revealing the dissatisfaction that the people are feeling with country?s sluggish internal progress in recent years.
The Essay on The Soviet Breakup Russia Union World
When on December 21, 1991, the Soviet Union ceased to exist and broke into a fragmented group of independent countries (Byrnes), the world breathed a sigh of relief. Another horrible communist country had finally seen the light and given way to the western beliefs of capitalism and democratic government. But was this really the best thing to happen to an already unstable country Some say yes, ...
Gorbachev also explains why his country has been increasingly aggressive in its quest for disarmament in recent years. While the Soviet Union has always been committed to arms reduction, the need for an end to the arms race with the United States escalated in the mid-eighties. The pressure being felt from within for reform was prompting these world disarmament feelings. The Soviet Union really needs a stable international environment, free of the immediate threat of war, to focus on their internal development and change. It needed to deal with some of the unsolved social problems, and thus needed peace with the West.
The Soviet Union was falling increasingly behind in the nuclear arms race with the United States, and this caused even more tension inside. The tensions with the United States were not as high as they had been in the past- and both countries were dealing with problems in other areas of the world. Gorbachev?s background also contributed a great deal when bringing the problems of the Soviet system to the surface. He was raised in the country rather than the city, and could testify first-hand to the injustices and inequalities that the system was producing for Russia?s common people. These were his friends and family that were suffering due to the inability of the system to meet their needs. Gorbachev was not an anti-Communist, nor was he an anti-Socialist, he was simply a man who saw that there were problems within his country?s current political system that had to be fixed. He had enough initiative and faith to do something about them. Gorbachev was trying to create a type of Democratic Socialism in order to advance his country and correct some of the injustices that Communism was causing his people.
The Term Paper on Ukraine to Soviet Union
... of the 1985 rise to power of Mikhail Gorbachev, the Soviet Union’s last leader, the country was in a situation of severe stagnation, ... skilled workers who stood to gain from Perestroika in the ... national debt. Life under Perestroika became even harder for the majority of Soviet people. There were no state-employed social groups or ...
The loss of Tito in Yugoslavia, the relaxation of the hold the Soviet Union exercised over Eastern Europe, and the falling of the Berlin Wall created a hole in the curtain of Communism that Gorbachev tried to fill with the reforms of Perestroika. The internal strife and disagreement within the hierarchy were unforeseen complications that caused the downfall of Perestroika and Communism in the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union tried to reform itself both economically and politically, and this was just too overwhelming for the country to do at once.
Perestroika is a concept that has been relatively well covered in history and by the media, but Perestroika from Mikhail Gorbachev?s point of view is truly enlightening. It is easy to tell that Gorbachev harbors some degree of animosity towards the United States (or at least towards the media) for the continuing portrayal of his country as the evil empire. That is his only major bias, but he is equally as firm that he seeks reconciliation with the West and his country does not harbor any ill-will towards the United States. Gorbachev?s policies represent a new approach for Soviets to their way of life. The book is quite in-depth and very well organized, but it was one of those that is hard to read. At times, it could be very technical and tedious, the word styling was difficult, and did not make it easy to grasp the new ideas and the Soviet way of thinking. I enjoyed the biography of Gorbachev very much. It really does present a colorful picture of a man who is otherwise very stern. The biography also assisted to me in understanding Perestroika?s concepts and ideas. It was helpful to know where Mikhail Gorbachev was coming from, the type of person he is, and the type of life he led when reading his political policies. It is easier to understand why and how he formed these beliefs and ideas. Together, these two books are excellent complements.
Bibliography:
Gail Sheehy. The Man Who Changed the World- The Lives of Mikhail S. Gorbachev.
New York, NY. 1990. Mikhail Gorbachev. Perestroika- New Thinking for Our Country and the World. New York, NY. 1987.
