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My Years with Gorbachev and Shevardnadze:

The Memoir of a Soviet Interpreter

ISBN-13: 9780271035482
Publisher: PENN STATE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Imprint: PENN STATE UNIVERSITY PRESS
By Pavel Palazchenko
Price: AUD $77.99
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Availability: This book is temporarily out of stock, order will be despatched as soon as fresh stock is received.
Local release date: 20/10/2008
Format: Paperback 384 pages Weight: 0g
Categories: History of the Americas [HBJK]

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As the principal English interpreter for Mikhail Gorbachev and his foreign minister, Eduard Shevardnadze, in the critical period of 1985–1991, Pavel Palazchenko participated in all U.S.-Soviet summit talks leading to the end of the Cold War. This personal and political memoir sheds new light on Soviet/American relations and personalities during that time.

Palazchenko focuses on what he saw with his own eyes during important negotiating sessions with world leaders such as Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush, Secretaries of State George Shultz and James Baker, and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. He shares his impressions and opinions about these leaders as well as their Soviet counterparts and gives a firsthand account of the phase of preparation leading up to important international events, including the process of hammering out positions on sensitive arms control issues. Palazchenko describes the events themselves, such as the summits in Reykjavik, Malta, and Moscow, adding many fascinating details to previous accounts.

Palazchenko contends that the peaceful end of the Cold War was possible not because of some behind-the-scenes dealings, but because of the trust that gradually developed between world leaders. He shows us how this developing trust led to the remarkably peaceful transition from the dangerous pre-1985 confrontation to the new relationships between major powers. This book sheds light on Soviet thinking about Soviet-U.S. relations, the Third World, arms control, German reunification, and the Gulf War. It also provides an insider's view of domestic politics and policy during Gorbachev's last year in power and Soviet developments leading up to the collapse of the USSR.

“The memoirs of Pavel Palazchenko are remarkably revealing—not in the sense of sensational new disclosures, but in the re-creation of the thinking and decisions of the Soviet leaders, in particular illuminating their relationships with Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush and Secretaries of State George Shultz and James Baker. It is a straightforward account by a keen observer at closest hand, full of insight, and makes a real contribution to understanding the history of these crucial final years of the Cold War and of the collapse of the Soviet Union. It is, as well, well-written and a pleasure to read.”

—Raymond L. Garthoff, The Brookings Institution

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My Years with Gorbachev and Shevardnadze:

The Memoir of a Soviet Interpreter