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 U

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.

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.

Gail Sheehy. The Man Who Changed the World- The Lives of Mikhail S. Gorbachev.

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.

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.

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2316
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)