The Human Factor

Reviews / Votes

The Human Factor is in many respects the culmination of Archie Brown's long and distinguished career as a scholar and writer. It is full of a lifetime's achievement of wisdom and thought. * Fiona Hill, Brookings Institution, Washington DC * Brown's book is a superb achievement, a balanced, judicious and authoritative account of a foundation event of our contemporary world * Christopher Read, Diplomacy and Statecraft * A fascinating and instructive read ... Everybody will learn something from this first-class book. * Dominic Sandbrook, The Sunday Times * A masterly survey of the end of the cold war and the roles played in it by Gorbachev, Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. * Tony Barber, The Financial Times * Lucidly written and scholarly. * The Spectator * Browns narrative is peppered with anecdotes that add texture to our knowledge of the period. At times he injects great humour. At others, as in his retelling of the failed coup against Gorbachev and the eventual collapse of the Soviet Union, he infuses the narrative with drama and gripping suspense * , English Historical Review * In The Human Factor, Brown zooms out from analyzing Soviet decision-making and asks a broader question about why the Cold War ended. Scholars have proposed multiple explanations for the Cold War's end... but Brown encourages readers to focus on the personalities at the top of both the Soviet party-state and Western governments. * Chris Miller, The Russian Review * It is often a challenge for historians to find the right balance between the human factor and the historical forces at play. The value of Archie Brown's study [...] is that it does precisely that. * Christopher Coker, Literary Review * What The Human Factor does do, and does so well, is provide a fascinating new perspective on already well-trodden ground. * All About History * Brown devotes several fine-grained biographical chapters to the "making" of Gorbachev, the "rise" of Reagan, and the "moulding" of the "Iron Lady", and then traces the three leaders interactions... The result is a compelling picture of what led [them] to act as they did and how the difference each one made differed from the impact of the others. * William Taubman, The Political Quarterly * ... magisterial work... based on a wealth of sources in Russian and English... The Human Factor is as much a fine work of foreign policy analysis as it is Cold War history... a fascinating, close-structured narrative. * Christopher Hill, Cold War History * Brown's narrative is peppered with anecdotes that add texture to our knowledge of the period. At times... he injects great humour. At others, as in his retelling of the failed coup against Gorbachev and the eventual collapse of the Soviet Union, he infuses the narrative with drama and gripping suspense... * English Historical Review * ... splendid new book...The Human Factor makes a major contribution to scholarship and policy analysis. * Bruce Parrott, Journal of Cold War Studies * ...a thought-provoking book...I highly recommend this book to readers. Brown is right to highlight the human factor in the ending of the Cold War...the sharpness of many of Browns insights, condensed with commendable crispness in this 500-page [make the book an], eminently readable foray into a highly contentious subject. * Sergey Radchenko, Slavic Review * The book is crammed with information, is well-written, and shows that Brown has a dry sense of humour. * SCRSS Newsletter * Here and elsewhere, as he once did for the leaders about whom he now writes, Archie Brown's scholarship can provide wisdom and hope. * James Graham Wilson, H-DIPLO * Another tour de force from Archie Brown: detailed scholarship, elegant prose and a clear argument. Read this book to find why we should not ignore the human factor underpinning great historical shifts. A fascinating account of how the Cold War ended, explored through the personal interactions between three world leaders - Gorbachev, Reagan and Thatcher. * Bridget Kendall MBE, former BBC Diplomatic Moscow and Washington Correspondent *