The Soviet Mind: Russian Culture under Communism

(Paperback)

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This Brookings Classic brings together Berlin's writings about the Soviet Union. Although the essays in this book were originally written to explore the tensions between Soviet communism andRussian culture, the thinking about the Russian mind that emerges is as relevant today under Putinspostcommunist Russia as it was when this book first appeared more than a decade ago.

Reviews

The Soviet Mind is not just a riveting study of the intellectual, social, and cultural history of Russia in the middle of the twentieth century. It is first and foremost a brilliant and instructive analysis of the elusive concept of 'national mentality.'"- Yigal Liverant, The European Legacy

Author Bio

Isaiah Berlin (1909-97) was a Russian-born British philosopher, educator and theorist, famed for his intellectual brilliance but also for his ability to explain complex ideas in a remarkably accessible style. He taught social and political theory for most of his life at Oxford University, where he was the founding president of Wolfson College.

Henry Hardy is a fellow of Wolfson College, Oxford University. He is one of Isaiah Berlin's literary trustees and has edited a number of other collections of Berlin's essays.

Strobe Talbott assumed the presidency of the Brookings Institution in July 2002 after a career in journalism, government and academe.

His immediate previous post was founding director of the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization. Before that, he served in the State Department from 1993 to 2001, first as ambassador-at-large and special adviser to the secretary of state for the new independent states of the former Soviet Union, then as deputy secretary of state for seven years.

Mr. Talbott entered government service after 21 years with Time magazine. As a reporter, he covered Eastern Europe, the State Department and the White House, then was Washington bureau chief, editor-at-large and foreign affairs columnist. He was twice awarded the Edward Weintal Prize for distinguished diplomatic reporting.