Download or read book The Gorbachev Phenomenon written by Moshe Lewin and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 1991-04-16 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The "Gorbachev phenomenon" is seen as the product of complex developments during the last seventy years—developments that changed the Soviet Union from a primarily agrarian society into an urban, industrial one. Here, for the first time, a noted authority on Soviet society identifies the crucial historical events and social forces that explain Glasnost and political and economic life in the Soviet Union today.