Human rights, perestroika, and the end of the Cold War / Anatoly Adamishin and Richard Schifter.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Foreword / Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev -- Foreword / George P. Shultz -- Timeline, 1981-1991 -- 1. The Making of Unwitting Human Rights Officials -- 2. Soviet-U.S. Relations and Human Rights before Perestroika -- 3. Enter Gorbachev -- 4. The Human Rights Agenda -- 5. Vienna -- 6. The End of Perestroika -- 7. Concluding Thoughts.

"This volume takes the reader behind the scenes on both sides of the Cold War as two men form an unlikely partnership to help transform Soviet-American relations. When U.S. assistant secretary of state Richard Schifter first met Soviet deputy foreign minister Anatoly Adamishin to discus human rights, the Reagan administration was still skeptical of Gorbachev's reformist credentials. But skepticism soon gave way not just to belief but to active support. Like their immediate superiors George Shultz and Eduard Shevardnadze, Schifter and Adamishin became partners in rapprochement. Together, they helped free political prisoners, ease emigration, support perestroika against its domestic enemies, and contribute to the mutual trust that allowed the Cold War to end swiftly and peacefully."--BOOK JACKET.