What Went Wrong with Perestroika

by Marshall I. Goldman

"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.

Genres: History

282 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

Marshall Goldman was Professor of Economics Emeritus at Wellesley College and Senior Scholar at the Davis Center for Russian Studies at Harvard University. An internationally recognized authority on Russian history, politics, and economics, he met with Mikhail Gorbachev and interviewed Vladimir Putin, and advised former President George H.W. Bush and President George W. Bush on Russia. Goldman wrote for publications like Foreign Affairs, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New Yorker, and The Atlantic Monthly; and appeared on numerous television programs, including The News Hour, Crossfire, Face the Nation, The Today Show, and Nightline.

Reviews

[Michael Maynard]

On one hand, I see why no one's reading this. There is no shortage of readable history on the Soviet decline, and the majority of these histories have the benefit of hindsight. By contrast, most of Goldman's book was written pre-August coup. That being said, his economic analysis is very helpful. He makes things plain even for a dummy like me. I didn't read every word, but I relished those that I did and took down many quotations for my research project.

[Mosker]

This book really needed to be 150 pages longer or 100 pages shorter. However, it was accessible, no mean feat given the size and complexity of the morass it attempted to explain [insert your own clusterf&*k analogy and then raise it by a factor of 10]

Wisely, Goldman includes many contemporary jokes which give more insight into Russian culture than just about any nation's humor (they translate fine, but still feel Russian).