- Paperback: 368 pages
- Publisher: Emblem Editions (Mar 1 2011)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0771079974
- ISBN-13: 978-0771079979
- Product Dimensions: 20.1 x 13.2 x 1.7 cm
- Shipping Weight: 327 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,179,202 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
Product Details |
Product Description
Review
“This lively and well-researched book provides fresh insight into the role played by Ambassador Yakovlev and his Canadian friends in opening the minds of Soviet leaders and getting them to try reforming their system. A fun and informative read!”
— Peter H. Solomon, Jr. Professor, Munk Centre, University of Toronto
“A fascinating story of why even insiders lost faith in the Soviet system—and how Canada played its part. Christopher Shulgan illuminates the key friendship between Yakovlev, the Soviet ambassador in Ottawa, and Mikhail Gorbachev, and shows how it contributed to the huge changes in Russia in the 1980s.”
— Margaret MacMillan author of Paris 1919
"Peasant, war hero, Communist party apparatchik, eminence grise of Mikhail Gorbachev—Aleksandr Yakovlev well deserves a biography. The extra virtue of Christopher Shulgan's lively, well written book is that it focuses on Canada where, during his decade as Soviet ambassador, Yakovlev developed many of the ideas that helped Gorbachev change his country and the world."
— William Taubman, Bertrand Snell Professor of Political Science, Amherst College, and 2004 Pulitzer Prize winning author of KHRUSHCHEV: The Man and His Era
"Shulgan presents the complexities of Soviet society without falling into the trap of seeing it only through the simplistic lenses of Cold War anti-Soviet propaganda."
— National Post
"Compelling and detailed. . . . The Soviet Ambassador provides a unique glimpse into the world of the Soviet Union's political elite and Canadian-Soviet relations during the Trudeau years."
— Quill & Quire
"A gripping story of historical significance. The author persuasively traces Yakovlev's enormous role in the implosion of the Soviet Union to the Ambassador's seminal exposure to Canadian democracy at work."
— Allan Gotlieb, former Canadian Ambassador to the United States, and author of The Washington Diaries
From the Hardcover edition.
— Peter H. Solomon, Jr. Professor, Munk Centre, University of Toronto
“A fascinating story of why even insiders lost faith in the Soviet system—and how Canada played its part. Christopher Shulgan illuminates the key friendship between Yakovlev, the Soviet ambassador in Ottawa, and Mikhail Gorbachev, and shows how it contributed to the huge changes in Russia in the 1980s.”
— Margaret MacMillan author of Paris 1919
"Peasant, war hero, Communist party apparatchik, eminence grise of Mikhail Gorbachev—Aleksandr Yakovlev well deserves a biography. The extra virtue of Christopher Shulgan's lively, well written book is that it focuses on Canada where, during his decade as Soviet ambassador, Yakovlev developed many of the ideas that helped Gorbachev change his country and the world."
— William Taubman, Bertrand Snell Professor of Political Science, Amherst College, and 2004 Pulitzer Prize winning author of KHRUSHCHEV: The Man and His Era
"Shulgan presents the complexities of Soviet society without falling into the trap of seeing it only through the simplistic lenses of Cold War anti-Soviet propaganda."
— National Post
"Compelling and detailed. . . . The Soviet Ambassador provides a unique glimpse into the world of the Soviet Union's political elite and Canadian-Soviet relations during the Trudeau years."
— Quill & Quire
"A gripping story of historical significance. The author persuasively traces Yakovlev's enormous role in the implosion of the Soviet Union to the Ambassador's seminal exposure to Canadian democracy at work."
— Allan Gotlieb, former Canadian Ambassador to the United States, and author of The Washington Diaries
From the Hardcover edition.
Product Description
Few realize that behind Mikhail Gorbachev’s Cold War-ending perestroika reforms stood an owlish figure who was just as important as the Soviet leader himself. Fewer still know the role Canada played in transforming Gorbachev’s advisor from a devout Stalinist to the most potent force for democracy and justice ever to walk the halls of the Kremlin.
His name was Aleksandr Yakovlev. Today in an increasingly autocratic Russia he’s reviled as the man who brought down the Soviet empire–the "architect" of perestroika and the "godfather" of glasnost, who, some say, was the puppetmaster manipulating Gorbachev’s strings. Yakovlev is acknowledged to have devised the strategy that won Gorbachev the job of Soviet leader. After the Soviet collapse, Yakovlev was the only other man present as Gorbachev negotiated his transfer of power to Russian president Boris Yeltsin. In between, Yakovlev was behind every democratic measure Gorbachev instituted, leading the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer David Remnick to dub him "Gorbachev’s good angel."
His origins were anything but democratic. As a youth, Yakovlev was a faithful Communist who idolized Stalin. By 1970 he had ascended to a position that controlled every media outlet in the Soviet Union, requiring him to plot repressive strategies against such dissidents as Solzhenitsyn and Sakharov But then a mis-step caused the Party to banish him from Moscow. A disgraced Yakovlev landed in the Cold War backwater of Ottawa working as the Soviet ambassador to Canada. His career should have been over. But Yakovlev’s diplomatic posting functioned as an education in Western democracy. He grew fascinated with elections, attended trials and became an expert in the machinations of a market economy. He also developed a close friendship with Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, who helped arrange to bring Mikhail Gorbachev on his first visit to North America. It was in Canada that Gorbachev and Yakovlev struck up their friendship as they strategized for the first time the radical changes known as perestroika.
Drawing on interviews with Yakovlev’s family and dozens of his friends, as well as never-before-disclosed archival research material, The Soviet Ambassador recounts Yakovlev’s tortuous evolution from Stalin’s acolyte to Stalinism’s nemesis, from faithful member of the Communist Party to liberal democrat engineering the same Party’s collapse. With profound implications for diplomacy in a conflict-driven age, Yakovlev’s story is also a remarkable testament to the power of conviction, and an inspiring account of an underdog overcoming injustice to improve the lives of his fellow citizens.
From the Hardcover edition.
His name was Aleksandr Yakovlev. Today in an increasingly autocratic Russia he’s reviled as the man who brought down the Soviet empire–the "architect" of perestroika and the "godfather" of glasnost, who, some say, was the puppetmaster manipulating Gorbachev’s strings. Yakovlev is acknowledged to have devised the strategy that won Gorbachev the job of Soviet leader. After the Soviet collapse, Yakovlev was the only other man present as Gorbachev negotiated his transfer of power to Russian president Boris Yeltsin. In between, Yakovlev was behind every democratic measure Gorbachev instituted, leading the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer David Remnick to dub him "Gorbachev’s good angel."
His origins were anything but democratic. As a youth, Yakovlev was a faithful Communist who idolized Stalin. By 1970 he had ascended to a position that controlled every media outlet in the Soviet Union, requiring him to plot repressive strategies against such dissidents as Solzhenitsyn and Sakharov But then a mis-step caused the Party to banish him from Moscow. A disgraced Yakovlev landed in the Cold War backwater of Ottawa working as the Soviet ambassador to Canada. His career should have been over. But Yakovlev’s diplomatic posting functioned as an education in Western democracy. He grew fascinated with elections, attended trials and became an expert in the machinations of a market economy. He also developed a close friendship with Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, who helped arrange to bring Mikhail Gorbachev on his first visit to North America. It was in Canada that Gorbachev and Yakovlev struck up their friendship as they strategized for the first time the radical changes known as perestroika.
Drawing on interviews with Yakovlev’s family and dozens of his friends, as well as never-before-disclosed archival research material, The Soviet Ambassador recounts Yakovlev’s tortuous evolution from Stalin’s acolyte to Stalinism’s nemesis, from faithful member of the Communist Party to liberal democrat engineering the same Party’s collapse. With profound implications for diplomacy in a conflict-driven age, Yakovlev’s story is also a remarkable testament to the power of conviction, and an inspiring account of an underdog overcoming injustice to improve the lives of his fellow citizens.
From the Hardcover edition.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Good Biography on Yakovlev,
By
This review is from: The Soviet Ambassador: The Making of the Radical Behind Perestroika (Hardcover)
I was both impressed and disappointed by "The Soviet Ambassador." On the one hand, Christopher Shulgan has written a well-timed biography about an under-analyzed figure of the late Soviet era in Aleksandr Yakovlev. However, on the other hand, the background context that Shulgan provides is incomplete and therefore the result is an oversimplified analysis.The book is roughly divided into three parts; the events surrounding the putsch in 1991; Yakovlev's childhood and rise through the Communist Party; and finally his years as the USSR's Ambassador to Canada. All the parts regarding Yakovlev's biography are very well done, well-researched and well-written. Yakovlev's service during the Great Patriotic War, his short time at Columbia university, and the many years in Canada during the Trudeau years. Most interesting were Yakovlev's intimate relationships with the many government and corporate representatives including a McDonald's executive whose ambitious plan to start a franchise in Moscow with the help of Yakovlev. Clearly, as Shulgan shows, Yakovlev was deeply influenced by his time in Canada, his ideas for Perestroika and Glasnost directly reflected. Some of the historical context for the events surrounding the 1991 putsch attempt, the rise of Gorbachev and the development of Perestroika and Glastnost are incomplete and oversimplified. For example, the biggest mistake the KGB made during the 1991 putsch was that they didn't arrest Yeltsin right away and allowed him to rally his supporters. That is why the soldiers decided to obey Yeltsin instead of the KGB, something that Shulgan omits from his narrative. In Shulgan's discussion on Khrushchev, he fails to point out the main reason why he was ousted: Khrushchev tried to implement term limits which angered many senior apparatchik. This, and not the Cuban missile crisis, Novocharkassk, or the failed Virgin Land Campaigns was the result of his downfall. In his epilogue discussing the Gorbachev years, Shulgan implies that Perestroika and Glasnost were Gorbachev's plan from the first day he came to office. That is simply not the case, Gorbachev was very puritanical in his approach from the beginning. It was only when his orthodox approach failed, mostly due to the collapse of oil prices in the mid-80's when he announced the reforms. In doing so, Shulgan falls into the trap of most who hold Gorbachev in such high regard. Perestroika was doomed to fail from the start, when you consider that the CPSU was paradoxically both the initiator and the object of Perestroika. As Stephen Kotkin shows in "Armageddon Averted," Gorbachev's vision was simply too idealistic to be implemented in reality. Yakovlev observed Canada's free elections, open and transparent democracy, but didn't realize that it was the existence of liberal institutions which allowed for it to work, that which the USSR did not have. Despite some of the contextual issues, I still think "The Soviet Ambassador" is a good book. Viewing Canada from a different perspective is interesting in itself, and therefore worth reading if just for all the great insight into Yakovlev's years in Canada and looking past some of the flawed background analysis.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
