This book shows how the leaders of the USA, Soviet Union, Europe (East and West), and China viewed the world in the aftermath of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Newly available records reveal what political leaders thought of the shattering, and largely unforeseen, events as they unfolded. Four leading scholars: Melvyn P. Leffler (US); Chen Jian (China); James J. Sheehan (Europe); and William Taubman (Soviet Union) reflect on the story and search for the lasting meaning of 1989.