trengths and accomplishments while minimizing his weaknesses and failures. Many biographers do the same thing, as it is difficult to write a comprehensive book about someone that the writer does not admire, but Brown does attempt to provide a balanced view of Gorbachev by including weaknesses, at least to a minor extent, and by documenting his observations historically.
Brown's conclusions are that Gorbachev accomplished the termination of the Cold War and inadvertently brought about the end of the Soviet Union, bringing the nation into a new paradigm where it became much more akin to the Western nations. Brown (318) echoes the sentiments of Olga Chaykovskaya that Gorbachev was "the one great Russian reformer," ranking him with historical leaders such as Peter the Great, Catherine the Great, and Alexander II. Brown's prejudices in favor of Gorbachev are fairly evident in what he writes, but he does not neglect to include divergent views. For example, following the praise of Chaykovskaya, he writes another paragraph acknowledging that some Russian intellectuals are unable to forgive Gorbachev for winning a freedom that they feel they should have won on their own.
The biography relates well to the times in which it is written. Brown contextualizes it extensively, pointing out what was going on not only in the Soviet Union but also elsewhere around the world, particularly from a political standpoint. He thus provides the reader with an understanding of how Gorbachev's rule fit into the history of the Soviet Union but also how it fit into the history of the world and how it was shaped by the events of its day. The effect of the biography on future historical developments was probably not great, since it was published five years after Gorbachev was out of office. However, what Gorbachev accomplished during his rule did have a significant effect on future historical developments. It was his concept of perestroi...