Masterpieces of History: The Peaceful End of the Cold War in Europe, 1989

Twenty years in the making, this collection presents 122 top-level Soviet, European and American records on the superpowers role in the annus mitabilis of 1989. Consisting of Politburo minutes; diary entries from Gorbachev s senior aide, Anatoly Chernyaev; meeting notes and private communications of Gorbachev with George H.W. Bush, Margaret Thatcher, Helmut Kohl and Francois Mitterrand; and high-level CIA analyses, this volume offers a rare insider’s look at the historic, world-transforming events that culminated in the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and the end of the Cold War. Most of these records have never been published before. Complementing the documents are the proceedings of an extraordinary face-to-face mutual interrogation of Russian and American former senior officials from 1998. Anchored by scholars and documents, the meeting – featuring Gorbachev advisers Anatoly Chernyaev and Georgy Shakhriazarov, Shevardnadze aide Sergei Tarasenko, U.S.Ambassador Jack Matlock and CIA chief Soviet analyst Douglas MacEachin ‚Äîproduced fascinating insights into superpower policy-making during the miraculous year of 1989.