The approach here is unusual in concentrating on the various individuals and groups that have opposed Gorbachev. The list of "enemies" includes Yeltsin, Ligachev, Chebrikov, ideological conservatives, stick-in-the-mud bureaucrats, and elements of the armed forces and the KGB. A formidable array, but they do not act together and they have no viable alternative. Hazan, a veteran Sovietologist, does not have to read the tea leaves this time; he has plenty of published material on which to rely, thanks to glasnost, and he makes good use of it.
