The Soviet Union Under Brezhnev Av William J. Tompson

<P><EM>The Soviet Union Under Brezhnev </EM>provides an accessible post-Soviet perspective on the history of the USSR from the mid-1960¿s to the mid-1980¿s. It challenges both the ¿evil empire¿ image of the USSR that was widespread in the early 1980¿s and the ¿stagnation¿ label attached to the period by Soviet reformers under Gorbachev.</P><P>The book makes use of a range of memoirs, interviews, archival documents and other sources not available before 1990 to place Brezhnev and his epoch in a broader historical context. The author:</P><P>    examines high politics, foreign policy and policy making<BR>    explores broader social, cultural and demographic trends<BR>    presents a picture of Soviet society in the crucial decades prior to the upheavals and crises of the late 1980¿s</P><P>While stopping well short of a full-scale rehabilitation of Brezhnev, Tompson rejects the prevailing image of the Soviet leader as a colourless non-entity, dra