Breaking Free; A Memoir of Love and Revolution

New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, 1995. First Edition [stated], presumed first printing. Hardcover. Very good/Good. 23 cm, viii, 295 pages. Illustrations. Footnotes. Some soiling and wear to DJ. DJ shows signs of have become damp but there is no apparent impact on book covers. Inscribed on half-title page by the author. Susan Elaine Eisenhower (born December 31, 1951) is a consultant, author, and expert on international security, space policy, energy, and relations between the Russian Federation and the United States of America. She is the daughter of John Eisenhower, and the granddaughter of President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Eisenhower is President of the Eisenhower Group, Inc., which provides strategic counsel on political, business, and public affairs projects. She has consulted for Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 companies doing business in the emerging markets of the former Soviet Union and for a number of major institutions engaged in the energy field. She is also Chairman of Leadership and Public Policy Programs and Chairman Emeritus of the Eisenhower Institute, a think tank based in Washington, D.C. and in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, owned and operated by Gettysburg College. Eisenhower served as the president of the Eisenhower Institute twice, and later as Chairman. During that time, she became known for her work in the former Soviet Union and in the energy field. The author, President Eisenhower's granddaughter, fell in love with the head of the Russian space program. The book is the story of her love affair and eventual marriage to a member of President Gorbachev's inner circle and head of the Soviet civilian space program. These events happened during the breakup of the Soviet Union and the end of Soviet communism. Susan Eisenhower's memoir begins with a brief introduction of her early life. She recounts what it was like to grow up as the granddaughter of "Ike" Eisenhower, the forty-ninth president of the United States; her short, but unhappy marriage; and her problems as a single mother to three daughters. She goes on to describe her job as a journalist for a local newspaper, and then her role in foreign affairs and marketing communications for several companies. Finally, Susan explains how she came to be the president of the Eisenhower Group, Inc., in 1986. Also in this first section, she gives the reader a thorough background on the Cold War, Gorbachev's rise to power, and the relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union. The following three sections chronicle the developing relationship between Susan Eisenhower and Soviet scientist Roald Sagdeev, as well as the problems that they face professionally and personally. The KGB, along with many others, would not have approved of this king of relationship. Susan's situation was not much different than Roald's. She was under tremendous pressure from friends to end her relationship with Roald. She was afraid of dishonoring the memory of her grandfather, but in the end, Susan and Roald risked everything to be together. As a chronicle of an "ill-fated" relationship set against the backdrop of the Cold War, Susan Eisenhower's memoir is an example of courage and devotion against tremendous odds. Roald Zinnurovich Sagdeev (born 26 December 1932) is a Soviet and Russian expert in plasma physics and a former director of the Space Research Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences. He was also a science advisor to the Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev. Sagdeev graduated from Moscow State University. He is a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He has worked at the University of Maryland, College Park since 1989 in the University of Maryland College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences. He is also currently a Senior Advisor at the Albright Stonebridge Group, a global strategy firm, where he assists clients with issues involving Russia and countries in the former Soviet Union. Sagdeev was married to, and divorced from, Susan Eisenhower, granddaughter of Dwight D. Eisenhower. Sagdeev was the recipient of the 2003 Carl Sagan Memorial Award, and the James Clerk Maxwell Prize in Plasma Physics (2001).