The Gorbachev Factor
by Archie Brown
The Gorbachev Factor by Archie Brown is not a biography as such but looks at the key role Gorbachev played in the transformation of the Soviet Union from communism to a different political system. Gorbachev became the top Soviet leader in March 1985, but Brown had been watching him closely since 1978 when he joined the top Communist Party leadership at an unusually early age. This is an admiring account of Gorbachev but, as one reviewer pointed out, not uncritical.
