The Long Road to Freedom: Russia and Glasnost

New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1989. Hardcover. Fine/Very Good. Hardcover. Walter Laqueur (1921-2018) was born in Germany to a Jewish family. He emigrated to the Palestinian Mandate in 1938, but his parents were killed in the Holocaust. He subsequently moved to London and founded Soviet Survey, a CIA-funded journal to counter Soviet propaganda. He was a member, and eventually Chairman, of the International Research Council of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington. He was also a professor or visiting professor at several universities. Laqueur was extensively published on Naziism, the Holocaust, Arab-Israeli relations, the Cold War, Russia, and terrorism. This book was published during the ascendancy of Glasnost and the Soviet leadership of Mikhail Gorbachev, prior to the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Laqueur provides a historical perspective for glasnost (or, openness) and emphasizes that it is an approach, not a political philosophy. Laqueur ends with a chapter on "Glasnost and Russia's Future", in which he is very cautious about glasnost having a lasting impact on Russia. This has certainly been borne out with the rule of Vladimir Putin. Laqueur saw this failure occurring as early as 1993 and published a number of titles addressing that in subsequent years. A very interesting perspective from a historian at a particular moment in history. Octavo. White paper-covered boards with red cloth-covered spine. Title in black to spine. Black dust jacket with title in red to front panel and spine panel (faded). Pages are bright and clean. One yellow-marker underline. 325 pages, including index. RUSHIST1/5112.