Mikhail Gorbachev features only briefly in my narrative but he looms as large across the canvas of the Cold War as any other human being. Just released, William Taubman’s biography, Gorbachev: His Life and Times, is a tour de force. Taubman is the go-to biographer of Nikita Khrushchev, now I have no hesitation in recommending his Gorbachev rendering. Not only is it comprehensive and cohesive, he brings clear, exciting prose to the task. Get it!