The Soviet-Afghan War
The first issue in the series, about the Soviet war in Afghanistan and its long aftermath.
Collectible magazine
Gorby: individual issues, one era at a time.
Browse all 18 individual Russian-language issues. Every card has a concise topic guide, the issue cover and a direct eBay link.
Eighteen issues
Individual issues
All issues are new and in Russian. Issue No. 1 is a scarce collectible; consecutive issues are also available in three-issue sets.
Reykjavík 1986: the superpowers disarm
The Gorbachev–Reagan summit that became a turning point from Cold War confrontation toward détente.
German reunification and the fall of the Wall
How the German question helped bring the Cold War to a real conclusion.
The end of the Brezhnev Doctrine
Moscow’s retreat from coercive control and Eastern Europe’s path toward sovereignty.
The big three: Gorbachev, Solzhenitsyn, Sakharov
Three distinct perspectives on the Soviet past, perestroika, and the country’s future.
How the USSR recognized human rights
Why human rights under Gorbachev ceased to be treated solely as a state’s internal affair.
Gorbachev and the intelligentsia
The democratic intelligentsia as an ally of perestroika—and a source of later disagreements.
Who really dismantled the Soviet Union
Competing explanations and the responsibility of political actors in the Soviet collapse.
The release of political prisoners
How the release and rehabilitation of political prisoners became part of perestroika.
Raisa Gorbacheva
The Soviet first lady’s public role, charitable work, and the response of Soviet society.
The anti-alcohol campaign the USSR could not sustain
The goals, methods, and unintended consequences of perestroika’s anti-alcohol campaign.
The 1991 coup: who organized the GKChP
The roles of the August coup plotters and the decisions that accelerated the Soviet Union’s end.
The secret pact with Germany and the Anglo-Saxon allies
Soviet diplomacy before the Second World War and the shifting alliances after the 1939 pact.
A “spy” exchanged for a disarmament summit
The diplomatic crisis that preceded Gorbachev and Reagan’s Reykjavík summit.
Advisers to Soviet leaders
How advisers tried to humanize the Soviet system and influence decisions at the top.
Gorbachev, Stalinism, repentance, amnesty
Changing views of Stalin, the memory of repression, and a renewed debate over state amnesty.
The INF Treaty, 1987
The history of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty and its place in ending the Cold War.
Russian public-opinion polls on support for the war
A discussion of polling data and Russian public attitudes toward the war.
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