Reagan and Gorbachev - by Jack Matlock (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

"[Matlock's] account of Reagan's achievement as the nation's diplomat in chief is a public service."--The New York Times Book Review

"Engrossing . . . authoritative . . . a detailed and reliable narrative that future historians will be able to draw on to illuminate one of the most dramatic periods in modern history."--Los Angeles Times Book Review

In Reagan and Gorbachev, Jack F. Matlock, Jr., a former U.S. ambassador to the U.S.S.R. and principal adviser to Ronald Reagan on Soviet and European affairs, gives an eyewitness account of how the Cold War ended. Working from his own papers, recent interviews with major figures, and unparalleled access to the best and latest sources, Matlock offers an insider's perspective on a diplomatic campaign far more sophisticated than previously thought, waged by two leaders of surpassing vision.

Matlock details how Reagan privately pursued improved U.S.-U.S.S.R. relations even while engaging in public saber rattling. When Gorbachev assumed leadership, however, Reagan and his advisers found a willing partner in peace. Matlock shows how both leaders took risks that yielded great rewards and offers unprecedented insight into the often cordial working relationship between Reagan and Gorbachev.

Both epic and intimate, Reagan and Gorbachev will be the standard reference on the end of the Cold War, a work that is critical to our understanding of the present and the past.

Review Quotes

Praise for Autopsy on an Empire

"A superb analysis of the achievements and problems of the Soviet system and a fascinating account of the people and events that brought its collapse . . . Matlock writes with the authority of long years of service in Moscow, and at the State Department and the National Security Council. His close-up view of the most important events of our century is the unique product of careful scholarship and an extraordinary diplomatic career."
-HERBERT J. ELLISON, professor of Russian history, Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies, University of Washington

"No person is better equipped to describe the extraordinary change from the Soviet Union into Russia than Ambassador Matlock. His background in Russian history, language, culture, literature, and politics makes him one of the world's outstanding authorities on the question. . . . [Matlock] knows practically all of the people about whom he is writing and conveys their character, prejudices, strengths, and shortcomings in vivid colors."
-MAX M. KAMPELMAN, former counselor of the Department of State and U.S. nuclear arms control negotiator

"No other American had the opportunity to observe the Soviet government's collapse at such close range. Thanks to Ambassador Matlock's excellent contacts and mature judgment, his book represents a unique record of this historic event."
-RICHARD PIPES, Frank Baird, Jr., Professor of History Emeritus, Harvard University

About the Author

First posted to Moscow in 1961, career diplomat Jack F. Matlock, Jr., was America's man on the scene for most of the Cold War. A scholar of Russian history and culture, Matlock was President Reagan's choice for the crucial post of ambassador to the Soviet Union. He is the author of Autopsy on an Empire: The American Ambassador's Account of the Collapse of the Soviet Union. Matlock now divides his time between Princeton, New Jersey, and his wife's farm in Booneville, Tennessee.