Politics, Diplomacy, and the Media: Gorbachev's Legacy in the West

(Hardback)

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Mikhail Gorbachev was a major force at the centre of political change in the latter half of the 20th century. His emphasis on the spoken word and the visual image was so pronounced that the character of the reform programme he introduced became both a reflection and an extension of his own political persona. To promote his political programme, Gorbachev depended upon the media to assist him in delivering his message and restructuring the Soviet experience, it was almost as if he believed that he could talk a revolution into existence. He hoped to promote both real and symbolic change, but found instead that such efforts led to his own downfall.

Reviews

"Lively and thoughtfully considered--this is a book that reminds us of the tasks that Gorbachev faced as party leader, and of the skills of communication with which he tried to resolve them, and why this still matters to the West."-Stephen Leonard White, Professor of Politics University of Glasgow
"Professor DeLuca provides a masterful overview of Mikhail Gorbachev and his era. Absorbingly written, the book explores Gorbachev's intentions, strategies, successes, and failures. The author depicts Gorbachev as the Soviet Union's first western-style media savvy politician who believed that the force of his will, the passion of his rhetoric, and his skill at manipulating the press could transform the USSR from an obsolescent, dispirited, grey dictatorship into the vibrant, prosperous, socialist utopia for which the revolutionaries of 1917 had hoped. Gorbachev emerges from these pages as...the brilliant statesman who almost single-handedly ended the Cold War, and he is the bumbling economic planner who, in going too far and not far enough, left his country in economic ruin. This is a fascinating tale and DeLuca tells it well."-Teddy J. Uldricks, Professor of History University of North Carolina at Asheville

Author Bio

ANTHONY R. DELUCA is Professor of History at Emerson College. He has travelled widely in Europe, Eastern Europe, and Russia. His other books include Great Power Rivalry at the Turkish Straits: The Montreux Conference and Convention of 1936 and Personality, Power, and Politics: Observations on the Historical Significance of Napoleon, Bismarck, Lenin, and Hitler.