Conversations with Gorbachev on Perestroika, The Prague Spring, and the Crossroads of Socialism

Gorbachev, Mikhail; Mlynar, Zdenek; George Shriver (trans.)

ISBN 10: 0231118643 / ISBN 13: 9780231118644

Published by Columbia University Press, 2002

About this Item

First printing (complete number line) hardcover in excellent, unmarked, next-to-pristine condition (slightest handling), with near-pristine condition dust jacket (slight handling), which is protected by a new, clear, removeable cover. 225 pages. [1.1 lbs].

Seller Inventory # 067127

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Conversations with Gorbachev on Perestroika, The Prague Spring, and the Crossroads of Socialism
• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Publication Date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0231118643
• ISBN 13: 9780231118644
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Near Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine
• Book Type: Book
• Seller catalogs:
  • History, European
  • History, Russian

About this title

Synopsis

Mikhail Gorbachev and Zdenek Mlynar were friends for half a century, since they first crossed paths as students in 1950. Although one was a Russian and the other a Czech, they were both ardent supporters of communism and socialism. One took part in laying the groundwork for and carrying out the Prague spring; the other opened a new political era in Soviet world politics.

In 1993 they decided that their conversations might be of interest to others and so they began to tape-record them. This book is the product of that "thinking out loud" process. It is an absorbing record of two friends trying to explain to one another their views on the problems and events that determined their destinies. From reminiscences of their starry-eyed university days to reflections on the use of force to "save socialism" to contemplation of the end of the cold war, here is a far more candid picture of Gorbachev than we have ever seen before.

About the Author

Mikhail Gorbachev, secretary general of the Soviet Union, 1985-1991, now heads the Gorbachev Foundation in Moscow and lectures widely around the world. His most recent book is Gorbachev: On My Country and the World.

The late Zdenek Mlynar (1931–1997) was a leader of the Prague Spring of 1968 and a prominent member of the Czech dissident movement. His son, Vladimir, is the current minister without portfolio of the Czech Republic.