A Plume book.

"In Gorbachev's Glasnost: The Soviet Media in the First Phase of Perestroika, author Joseph Gibbs traces the development of glasnost as both concept and policy, from the Leninist idea of "criticism and self-criticism" to Gorbachev's attempt to modernize and reinterpret that doctrine to fit his own political goals and aspirations."--BOOK JACKET.

Interviews "from politicians and a poet to journalists, scholars, and an actor."

Oberg investigates modern disasters in the Soviet Union--from space shots to industrial catastrophes, to pollution, floods and fires. What really happened, why were they covered up, and how were they finally discovered? This book explains it all. 8 pages of black-and-white photos.

The author reviews the new body of evidence around the towering figure of the former Soviet leader: his rise to power, his ruthless collectivization of agriculture; ;the period of the purges and show trials and his role in the war.

"Beyond Glasnost is a thoughtful exploration of the past decade's cultural and political ferment in Eastern Europe. It is also something else: an argument—in a deceptively unassuming, anti-ideological voice—about how to conceive of and move toward freedom; an argument that could hardly be more relevant to the roiling debates on the Western left."—Ellen Willis, Village Voice