Gorbachev

As documented here, the ills of perestroika are grave and the prognosis pessimistic that major reforms within the U.S.S.R. can be accomplished in less than several decades. In a comprehensive study of the Gorbachev regime, Doder, former Washington Post Moscow bureau chief, and Branson, former Moscow correspondent for the London Times , survey the monumental difficulties of dismantling the world's largest welfare state and assess why `` perestroika and glasnost have aggravated many of the problems they were supposed to cure.'' We are shown why democratic principles and a market economy are viewed with suspicion and hostility by a Russian populace that historically has been governed by, and indeed fervently wants, an ideology and a hierarchical system of authority. The polarization of Slavophiles vs. Westernizers is intensifying throughout society and the party, even among Gorbachev supporters, according to the authors, who themselves admire the Russian president. Readers will find Doder and Branson's judgments sound, their knowledge imposing, their perspective essential to an understanding of the Russian turmoil. 25,000 first printing. (June)