Not for America Alone; The Triumph of Democracy and the Fall of Communism

New York: Kodansha International, 1997. First Printing [Stated]. Hardcover. Very good/Very good. xii, 290, [2] pages. Selected bibliography. Index. Inscribed by the author. Focusing on the lives of Karl Marx, Franklin Roosevelt, and Mikhail Gorbachev, Senator Mitchell shows why America has consistently met the challenges of our times while the Communist system finally failed. George John Mitchell Jr. (born August 20, 1933) is an American lawyer, businessman, author, and politician. A member of the Democratic Party, Mitchell served as a United States Senator from Maine from 1980 to 1995 and as Senate Majority Leader from 1989 to 1995. He briefly served as a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Maine from 1979 to 1980. Since retiring from the Senate, Mitchell has taken up a variety of positions in politics and business. He held a leading role in negotiations for peace in Northern Ireland and the Middle East, being appointed United States Special Envoy for Northern Ireland (1995-2001) by President Clinton and as United States Special Envoy for Middle East Peace (2009-2011) by President Barack Obama. He was a primary architect of the 1996 Mitchell Principles and the 1998 Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland, and was the main investigator in two "Mitchell Reports", one on the Arab-Israeli conflict (2001) and one on the use of performance-enhancing drugs in baseball (2007). Mitchell served as chairman of The Walt Disney Company from 2004 until 2007. He was the Chancellor of Queen's University in Belfast, Northern Ireland, from 1999 to 2009. Mitchell was a co-chair of the Housing Commission at the Bipartisan Policy Center. Derived from a Kirkus review: It's not clear whom the triumph of democracy was for, if not America. Mitchell, the former Senate majority leader (D-Maine), weaves his family history and personal observations into a sweeping survey of the major domestic and international political events of the 20th century. The Cold War, culminating with the demise of Communism and the breakup of the Soviet Union, receives special attention along with the world wars and the Depression. Against this background Mitchell considers the origins of Marxist ideology and the development of Communism in the Soviet Union from Lenin to Stalin to Gorbachev, and the development of American political ideology from Wilson to Franklin Roosevelt to Clinton. Mitchell limits his personal anecdotes to interactions with Mikhail Gorbachev at the time of perestroika. In the final two chapters, history gives way to current events in a general survey of pressing contemporary domestic and international issues. Throughout the effort is thoughtful and balanced.