If you don’t have time to read Taubman’s excellent biography, this fantastic interview/documentary from Werner Herzog is a must watch.
Gorbachev’s sincerity was clear in Taubman’s book and this interview makes it even clearer
His support of socialism was really in the realm of “Economics 3.0” where we have a “Crisis” of abundance. Either that is is untoward to simply produce massive amounts of stuff for the sake of it, or that the problems in a future of abundance really are ones of distribution – this is something that our traditional economics texts have not really grappled well with.
He was relationship driven
His contempt (and his contemporaries’ contempt) for the lust of current political class is palpable and spot on
His contempt for nuclear weapons and his concerns about the End of Civilization are sobering and need an airing. regularly
Much more in it. Definitely worth your consideration.