Bücher von Zhores A. Medvedev

On the morning of April 26, 1986, a Soviet nuclear plant at Chernobyl (near Kiev) exploded, pouring radioactivity into the environment and setting off the worst disaster in the history of nuclear energy. Now a former Soviet scientist gives a comprehensive account of the catastrophe.

In March 1985, without the usual long delay and speculation, Mikhail Gorbachev, at fifty-four years of age, became the youngest Soviet leader since Stalin. Gorbachev belongs to a new generation of Communist leaders, a generation that did not experience the suffering and fear that Gorbachev's predecessors did who came to power under Stalin. He is a product of the system, not one of its creators. Within a year his vigorous style had made him a well-known political figure throughout the world. In this book, Zhores A. Medvedev, author of an acclaimed biography of Yuri Andropov and many other books on Soviet history, looks at the inner workings of Soviet leadership and at Gorbachev the man and his rise to power. For the paperback edition, Mr. Medvedev has provided a new chapter on recent events, including the Chernobyl disaster: its long-range effects and what is revealed about Gorbachev's leadership and Soviet decision making.

Although as part of my general plan, this book is a continua tion of my earlier monograph "Protein Biosynthesis and Problems of Ontogenesis,"* published in 1963, in all other respects it is an independent work.

A unique view of the Khrushchev period as seen by two prominent Soviet dissidents.