Shest' let, kotorye izmenili mir 1985-1991. Krushenie Sovetskoi imperii [Six Years That Changed the World: 1985–1991]

Carrere d'Encausse also turns to the revolutionary, from her point of view, period of Russian history - the era of M. S. Gorbachev in power (1985–1991). The key events and processes that took place in the USSR during ‘perestroika’ are examined in the book through the prism of the personality of the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, and later the first President of the USSR, Gorbachev, whose views and place in the hierarchy of power largely determined the vector of the country’s development at that time. The epilogue provides a brief overview of the reign of Gorbachev's successor, B.N. Yeltsin, and attempts to assess the place and role of both statesmen in Russian history.