Abroad, he is revered and admired as the man who opened the door to a new era, while among his compatriots he is seen as a weakling and the undertaker of the Soviet Empire: Mikhail Gorbachev is, for some, an outstanding statesman and, for others, a failure. Pulitzer Prize winner William Taubman now presents the definitive biography of this monumental figure—meticulously researched, well-founded in judgment, and compellingly written. When Mikhail Gorbachev became the youngest General Secretary in the history of the CPSU in 1985 at the age of 54, the Soviet Union was one of two superpowers. Yet, just four years later, Perestroika and Glasnost had forever changed the Soviet Union, leaving Gorbachev with more enemies than friends. His policies ended the Cold War. However, the following year, after a failed coup, he was forced—unwillingly—to witness the collapse of that empire.