RUSSIAN ‘ROOTS’

Zhores Medvedev, in his (June 3) review of Dusko Doder’s and Louise Branson’s biography, “Gorbachev: Heretic in the Kremlin,” considers it unlikely that Gorbachev could have had an older brother who died during World War II.

Even if Maria Panteleevna Gorbachev did not become a teen-age mother, she could have had a stepson. I presume that it is correct to refer to a half-brother some seven years one’s senior as just an “older brother.” However, I doubt that Gorby would care to write a Russian “Roots” to clarify the matter.

KATHERYN GALLANT

WEST COVINA