Table of Contents

Part 1 1986: From the 27th Party Congress to the Eighth Writers' Congress; from June to December 1986 - preparing the reform; foreign policy in 1986. Part 2 1987: the January 1987 plenum - the shift toward democratization, perestroika's first political crisis; the June and October 1987 plenums; foreign policy in 1987. Part 3 1988: a year of lessons - the conservative offensive, Sumgait and the American crisis; the February plenum; Nina Andreyeva; the 19th party conference, the September plenum and the reform of the political system; foreign policy in 1988 - the year of change, the Moscow summit, out of Afghanistan. Part 4 1989: the long struggle of perestroika; the final months of 1989 - can the centre hold?