Dismantling Utopia is Scott Shane's brilliant and original account of how Mikhail Gorbachev tried to "renew socialism" by easing information controls - and how the new freedom enjoyed by newspapers, TV, books, films, videotapes, and the popular culture destroyed the illusions of communism and drove the Soviet system to ruin. On the scene in Moscow as correspondent for the Baltimore Sun, Shane witnessed firsthand how Gorbachev's experiment produced a revolution that proved fatal to his party, his government, and his own political career. Shane's compellingly readable story is filled with memorable characters, revealing vignettes, and striking statistics.