The wars of Eduard Shevardnadze
By: Carolyn McGiffert Ekedahl and Melvin A. Goodman.
Contributors: Goodman, Melvin A. 1938-
Publisher: Pennsylvania State University Press
Published: 1997
Place of publication: University Park, Pa
Language: eng
Number of pages: 331
Subjects: Shevardnadze, Ėduard Amvrosievich; Statesmen -- Soviet Union -- Biography; Soviet Union -- Foreign relations -- 1985-1991
Description: Carolyn Ekedahl and Melvin Goodman - veteran observers of the Soviet system - describe and analyze Shevardnadze's career, beginning with his Georgian past. They assess his responsibility for the Soviet collapse and the leadership role he continues to play in the independent state of Georgia. While sympathetic to what he has achieved, the authors show how Shevardnadze was a product of the Soviet system he sought to change but would help to destroy.

He has proven a skillful politician who exploited available instruments of power to advance his career and further his policy objectives. For this book, the authors have interviewed many high-ranking American, Georgian, Russian, and Soviet officials, including Shevardnadze himself and former secretaries of state George Shultz and James Baker. Both Shultz and Baker credit Shevardnadze with convincing them that Moscow was committed to serious negotiations.

They conclude that history would have been far different if it were not for the personal diplomacy of Shevardnadze.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [319]-324) and index.