Mikhail Gorbachev

School Library Journal

Gr 7-12-- A readable if somewhat dry biography. The only child of a collective farmer, Gorbachev rose up through the ranks of the Russian Communist Party (predominantly in the area of agriculture) to become the leader of his party as General Secretary in 1985 and his country's president in 1990. While Kort only briefly touches on the more personal parts of Gorbachev's life, the book does provide Western readers with a clear picture of the workings of the Russian political system and Gorbachev's rapid rise. What emerges is a portrait of a man of contradictions: a hard-working, seemingly uninspired party plodder who did not make waves, who has become what the world largely acknowledges as a dynamic, visionary leader of a country in the midst of a cultural, economic, and philosophical revolution. Students will find the book useful for reports and general readers will appreciate the well-presented background on the man and the system. --Louise M. Zuckerman, formerly at San Francisco Public Library