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"With some irony, the way the USSR separated itself from its empire and its own peaceful end may seem to be its most beneficial contributions to history. These episodes are, in any case, masterpieces of history."-Jacques Levesque, The Enigma of 1989
"When, where, why did the Cold War end? How did it manage to end peacefully? The answers are in this wonderful collection of crucial historical documents, penetrating essays by experts, plus the record of a revealing symposium including former Soviet and American officials. An invaluable source book on the end of the 20th century."-William C. Taubman, Amherst College, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Khrushchevò The Man and His Era
"Evocative, illuminating, insightful: This volume is a brilliant collection of documents, conversations, and essays. It is absolutely indispensable for understanding the end of the Cold War."-Melvyn Leffler, University of Virginia, G.L. Beer Prize-winning author of For the Soul of Mankind
"The National Security Archive ... deserves the highest praise for its dedication to work and truth, and for overcoming numerous obstacles created by bureaucrats and other excessively cowardly and greedy custodians of the truth about the past." (From the Foreword)-Anatoly S. Chernyaev, adviser to Mikhail Gorbachev, author of My Six Years with Gorbachev
"The conference held at ... Musgrove [included in this volume]...illuminated one of the most important periods in 20th century history ... The National Security Archive [has] rendered a service to historians and the public as a whole." (From the Foreword)-Jack F. Matlock Jr., Former U.S. Ambassador, author of Autopsy on an Empire
About The Editors
Svetlana Savranskaya is Director of Russia/Eurasia Programs at the National Security Archive.
Thomas Blanton is Executive Director of the National Security Archive.
Vladislav Zubok is Professor of history at Temple University.
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 ùproduced fascinating insights into superpower policy-making during the miraculous year of 1989.
