Archie Brown

From one of the world’s preeminent political historians, a magisterial study of political leadership around the world from the advent of parliamentary democracy to the age of Obama

“A work of considerable delicacy and nuance….Brown has crafted a readable and judicious account of Communist history…that is both controversial and commonsensical.”—Salon.com “Ranging wisely and lucidly across the decades and around the world, this is a splendid book.”—William Taubman, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Man and His Era The Rise and Fall of Communism is the definitive history from the internationally renowned Oxford authority on the subject. Emeritus Professor of Politics at Oxford University, Archie Brown examines the origins of the most important political ideology of the 20th century, its development in different nations, its collapse in the Soviet Union following perestroika, and its current incarnations around the globe. Fans of John Lewis Gaddis, Samuel Huntington, and avid students of history will appreciate the sweep and insight of this epic and astonishing work.

What brought about an end to the Cold War has long been a subject of speculation and mythology. One prominent argument is that the United States simply bankrupted the Soviet Union, outspending the Soviets on the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI, or "Star Wars") and forcing a reckoning. Archie Brown's latest work rejects any simple answers. The Human Factor focuses on the human element, and in particular on the main figures involved--Mikhail Gorbachev, Ronald Reagan, and Margaret Thatcher. His book looks at them both as individuals and as engaged in a dynamic that between 1985, when Gorbachev came to power and 1989, when Reagan left office, brought about not only an easing of East-West tensions but a great deal more. Brown argues that the Cold War ended at an ideological level with Mikhail Gorbachev's speech at the United Nations in December 1988, when he announced that the people of every country had the right to choose their own government. The Cold War ended on the ground when the peoples of Eastern Europe took Gorbachev at his word in 1989 and Soviet troops were ordered to stay in their barracks.The standard narrative of the end of the Cold War--that it was won by the threat of Western (especially American) military power and spending--has underpinned support for the use of force in the Middle East (including the invasion of Iraq in 2003), the expansion of NATO, and advocacy of a hard line toward contemporary Russia. On the other side of the divide, the view that the United States set out to break up the Soviet Union and undermine Russia is widely accepted in Russia today and has led to a hardening of both domestic and foreign policy. Vladimir Putin's high popularity ratings owe much to his being perceived as the leader who restored Russian pride and great power status. Brown ultimately confronts standard, monocausal explanations for the end of the Cold War and does so by offering a nuanced and deeply personal account of the three individuals most responsible for bringing it about.

General Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party and political reformer, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize and the force behind perestroika , Mikhail Gorbachev was arguably the most important statesman of the twentieth century. Providing a balanced account of the complexities of politics in the U.S.S.R. during a period of remarkable change, The Gorbachev Factor tells the gripping story of Gorbachev's rise and fall, a story full of intrigue, secret meetings, and power struggles.Archie Brown, one of the world's leading authorities on Gorbachev and the first Western writer to predict his importance, sets out to comprehend the evolution of Gorbachev's thinking and to identify and evaluate his personal contribution to change in Soviet politics. He analyzes the thrust of Gorbachev's domestic and foreign policy, looks at the sources of his new ideas, and assesses his contribution to the radical changes that took place in the Soviet Union. Brown shows how Gorbachev moved beyond reform of the Soviet system to the demolition of a number of its pillars. In the process of describing Gorbachev, Brown also provides portraits of Soviet leaders through the years--Brezhnev, Andropov, Chernenko, and even Lenin and Stalin--and charts the influence of such Russian luminaries as Eduard Shevardnadze and Boris Yeltsin.Perceptive and controversial, The Gorbachev Factor paints a vivid picture of a man and seven years that have changed the course of the twentieth century, offering fascinating insights into the beliefs, political style, and powers of Mikhail Gorbachev.

A rigorously argued and lively interpretation of the transformation of the Soviet system, the disintegration of the Soviet state, the end of the Cold War, and the role of Mikhail Gorbachev. Written by a leading authority on Soviet politics, this thoroughly researched book draws on new archival sources and puts perestroika in fresh perspective.Perestroika began as an attempt by a minority within the leadership of the Communist Party to reform the Soviet system. The decisive role was played by the new General Secretary, Mikhail Gorbachev. Perestroika (reconstruction) developed into an attempt to move from Communism to competitive elections and a market economy of a social democratic type. This 'revolution from above' had profound consequences, both intended and unintended. The latter included the dissolution of the Soviet state. Four of the ten chapters were written in 'real time' - in the second half of the 1980s while perestroika was still underway. The other six chapters provide an up-to-date discussion of such important issues as the stimuli to perestroika, its intellectual origins and development, its influence on other countries and their influence on developments in the Soviet Union, and the ending of the Cold War.Archie Brown takes issue with a number of popular interpretations of perestroika - and of the end of the Cold War - and draws on new archival sources in a book which is both clearly and vigorously argued and well documented.

I wonder, though, if you would be able to delete one superfluous review quote and substitute two better ones that are on the back cover of the paperback but missing from Amazon? The very first quote on the Amazon list is from Sergey Radchenko (no mention of the journal in which he reviewed it) and then, further down the list, there is exactly the same quote from Radchenko, this time giving also the name of the journal, Slavic Review (an important American journal in the field), in which he published it. The first mention of Radchenko should be deleted. The two quotes that should be added are from Fiona Hill (the Chair of the judges who awarded it the Pushkin House Book Prize – there is no mention of that prize on Amazon) and Christopher Read. These are the top two quotes on the back cover of the paperback. There is a different quote from Read’s remarkably positive review inside the paperback, but that on the back cover is especially “Brown’s book is a superb achievement, a balanced, judicious and authoritative account of a foundation event of our contemporary world”, Christopher Read, Diplomacy and Statecraft. It would be good to start with Fiona Hill, followed by Christopher Read, in the Amazon extracts from reviews, just as the paperback itself does. There is still no mention of Winner of the Pushkin House Book Prize 2021 which appears on the back cover of the paperback. In the past, Kate has been able to add or subtract quotes to the Amazon list as reviews have come in. I’d be very grateful if you could follow up on the request in the second of my two paragraphs within quotation marks. Radchenko should not be appearing twice and should not be the first person to be quoted. That should be Fiona Hill who has high name recognition – and it remains a pity that the excellent quote from Christopher Read (mentioned above – and used on the back cover of the paperback) still doesn’t appear on Amazon.

Shipped from UK, please allow 10 to 21 business days for arrival. Good, A very good, near fine copy in red cloth boards with a good dust jacket - lightly faded on spine.

مراجعة تاريخية مقارنة عن القيادة السياسية في العالم المعاصر؛ بتحليلات مكتوبة ببراعة وبصورة جميلة عن مجموعة من الزعماء الديموقراطيين؛ مثل: نيلسون مانديلا في جنوب إفريقيا، أدولفو سواريز في إسبانيا، وكليمنت أتلي في بريطانيا، أو هاري ترومان في الولايات المتحدة الأمريكية.يبيّن الكاتب براون كيف أن هؤلاء الزعماء لم يسيطروا على زملائهم والمعارضين لهم كما تفترض مقولة الزعيم القوي، ولكنهم صاغوا -بدلًا من ذلك- أفضل مستقبل ممكن، وحصلوا على دعم ائتلاف قوي لهذا المستقبل؛ وعليه فإن بإمكان القادة السياسيين والمعلقين والأساتذة والطلاب الذين يبحثون عما تتطلبه أو لا تتطلبه القيادة الجيدة، قراءة هذا الكتاب للحصول على كثير من الفائدة والارتياح.

Rise & Fall of Communism (09) by Brown, Archie [Hardcover (2009)]

Libro usado en buenas condiciones, por su antiguedad podria contener señales normales de uso

Book by

A group of poems by Archie Brown dating from 1985 to the present. Archie writes Christian poetry and poetry about his life. His poetry has inspired readers of many ages.

Under the rubric of perestroika during Mikhail Gorbachev's seven years in office, the Soviet Union was first reformed, and then transformed, before collapsing under the weight of latent internal tensions. In this book, Archie Brown, a close observer of the ups and downs of perestroika, presents his articles on the dramatic events in Russia as they unfolded, and analyzes the shifting relationship of the Soviet Union with the West. These pieces are complemented with new contributions that give fresh perspective to the origins, course and collapse of perestroika, drawing upon the wealth of source material that has become available during the 1990s.

Our understanding of the dynamics of Communist systems was substantially improved by taking political culture into account. But how much does the concept of political culture add to our empirical understanding of post-Communist Russia? The book's contributors engage with theoretical debates between political culture and competing 'rational choice' and institutionalist approaches to post-Soviet politics, and provide illustrative empirical studies of civic participation, views of national identity, the Russian criminal justice system and political violence.

Brown, Archie, Kaser, Michael, Smith, Gerald S.