Russia, the West, and the Problem of Modern Revolution: The Work of Martin Malia

Excerpt

Martin Malia, the Sovietologist and historian of Russian, died in November 2004 at the age of 80. At the time of his death, the manuscript of his last book History’s Locomotives: Revolutions and the Making of the Modern World was essentially complete, save for a small number of stylistic changes, reference checking and copy-editing. This ambitious work, published posthumously in 2006, gives an account of the origins, logic, and culmination of the European revolutionary tradition, and was first born in a paper at a professional conference in 1975. According to the editor, Terence Emmons, it links Malia to an intellectual tradition that includes Marc Bloch and Alexis de Tocqueville. The long gestation period and rarified intellectual company are not a surprise for those familiar with Malia’s work. For Malia was much more than a historian and much more than a Russianist. Few writers can claim to be as well versed in philosophy, literature, history and politics as he was. This volume provides a fine occasion to look back at the whole of Malia’s work. …