The Turn

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Washington Post diplomatic correspondent Obendorfer ( Tet! ) covered most of the high-level exchanges of the last decade between the U.S. and the Soviet Union and interviewed the major participants. This lengthy chronicle gives readers a ringside seat at the summit meetings and behind-the-scenes maneuvers that drastically changed the relations between the two superpowers. Gorbachev, predictably, is identified as the prime agent and apostle of change in his country's dealings with the outside world. On the American side, the author names George Shultz, Reagan's pragmatic secretary of State, as the key figure in improving relations with the Russians. Starting with Reagan's March 1983 condemnation of the ``evil empire'' and culminating in Gorbachev's May 1990 trip to Washington, this dramatic history adds valuable details to our picture of the rapprochement between two enemies. (Oct.)

Library Journal

Current events often produce immortal chroniclers who capture forever the entire history of their epoch. Oberdorfer, a Washington Post diplomatic correspondent, is not quite that ambitious here. He does promise and deliver ``a story of remarkable human actors on a mammoth stage.'' Although this narrative sweeps through seven critical ``turning point'' years, it is not a detailed, step-by-step account--that would be too much even for 500 pages! But the author's access to key figures (like Presidents Reagan and Bush, Secretary of State George Shultz, and former Chief of the Soviet General Staff Akhromeyev) allows him to tell many vignettes and insider perspectives that go beyond typical front-page journalism. For international affairs collections.-- John Yurechko, Georgetown Univ., Washington, D.C.