What Went Wrong with Perestroika

by Marshall I. Goldman

Overview

"Once again, Marshall Goldman has put his finger directly on the problems that hamper reform in the Soviet Union. Anyone who wants to understand Gorbachev's failings, the bureaucratic infighting and built-in reluctance to change will gain insights from this taut, readable book."—Hedrik Smith

A critical analysis of the economic reforms of Mikhail Gorbachev, which claims that the Soviet leader did little to counter the nation's overindulgence in heavy industry or to combat a burgeoning budget deficit. The resultant economic collapse, it is argued, led to political disintegration.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393309041
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	08/17/1992
Edition description:	Updated Edition
Pages:	282
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.30(h) x 0.80(d)
Lexile:	1410L (what's this?)

About the Author

Marshall I. Goldman (1930—2017) was associate director of the Russian Research Center at Harvard University and the author of several books on the Soviet Union and comparative economic systems.

Editorial Reviews

Recent Soviet events, including the failed August 1991 coup, are given a convincing ipso facto explanation by a noted Harvard economist, who finds the key to Gorbachev's failures in a lethal mix of ideological conservatism, isolation from real conditions, and an attempt to please everyone by including political enemies in his governing coalitions. Whether anyone could have done better is doubtful, Goldman writes, since peaceful change has never come easily to Russian society. Such fatalism aside, the author clearly shows how Gorbachev's economic ``reforms'' succeeded in creating mass confusion and encouraging ``protectionism'' all the way down to the municipal level: so alienating society as to give ``reform'' itself a bad name. A readable and timely introduction for general readers.--Robert Decker, Los Angeles

Library Journal