Mikhail S. Gorbachev: An Intimate Biography

288 pages. Text tanned Draws on extensive research and interviews with Gorbachev's colleagues to tra ce his career and his rapid rise to prominence as the leader of the Soviet Union Editorial Reviews From Library Journal This book reveals little not found in Christian Schmidt-Hauer's Gorbachev ( LJ 9/1/86) and Mark Frankland's The Sixth Continent ( LJ 11/15/87). Treatment of Gorbachev's early years relies on hearsay , his reminiscences, and those of fellow student Zdenek Mlynar. The period betwe en 1956 and accession to the Politburo in 1980 is thinly sketched, and circumsta nces linking Gorbachev's rise with politicians Suslov, Kulakov, and Andropov are frustratingly vague. Recent sources help depict a sharper portrait of an outsta nding orator and energetic leader. The chapter on the 1987 Washington summit is the best. Readers will find none of the promised intimacy, but may enjoy the mat ch of the authors' style with Gorbachev's celebrity. Recommended for public libr aries. BOMC selection. Zachary T. Irwin, Behrend Coll., Pennsylvania State Univ. , Erie Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.…