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.