Remarkable Encounters

Throughout the ages some journalists have been fortunate or skillful enough to be in the right place at the right time as tumultuous events have unfolded. One such is the Soviet journalist and Politician Vagif Guseynov and now the first time he has collected his accounts of these remarkable encounters in one volume. In this eclectic treasure trove of characters, the author reveals a fascinating insight into some of the key personalities, events and ideas which, as the 20th century rose to its climactic finale, were destined to shape our world. Of course he has interviewed many Russians: Khrushchev, Brezhnev, Kosygin, Yeltsin, Andropov, Gorbachev and Shevardnadze, but also their opposite numbers: Kissinger and Rice, and their allies: the Castros, Guevara, Ceausescu and Hoenecker. Away from the front line of conflict and politics, we meet the Gandhis, Pope John Paul II, Lech Walesa, Yuri Gagarin and many others. And away from that Guseynov takes us within him on road trips around North Korea, Cambodia and Vietnam as they struggle to meet the real politics of the late 20th century.