Freedom's Sunset

It is June 1990. Mikhail S. Gorbachev, President of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, fears that his policies of glasnost--openness--will cause the union to split apart. The Berlin Wall fell in the past November. His political rival, Boris Yeltsin, appears to be gaining popularity. On a cold day Gorbachev comes to Minnesota in the American heartland for a historic visit. A product of the Russian countryside himself, Gorbachev is happy to be free of the intrigues of Washington, D.C. and Moscow for a day. 

 

But he will face an encounter with Zack Pedersen, a troubled youth from South Dakota, on Summit Avenue in St. Paul that sheds light on two very different empires in different stages of collapse. Written in a style combining John le Carré with The Hunger Games, this book will appeal to those around the world who yearn for freedom, and are willing to pay the price to keep it. The story contains strong language and adult themes.