'The Marquis: Lafayette Reconsidered,' by Laura Auricchio

Catherine the Great remains one of the most intriguing women in history.

As Timothy J. Colton argues in his new biography, Yeltsin: A Life, Yeltsin did more than any other leader to point Russia toward democracy.

Russia rsquo s cultural history in the 20th century presents both ldquo triumph and tragedy rdquo For every masterpiece published or exhibited countless more never saw the light the state mobilized artists and writers to serve its goals but kept them on a short leash ready to break any who da

Historians and political scientists endlessly debate the sources of change in human societies What is more important in epochal transformation ideas or institutions personalities or power structures material or intellectual motives In the field of Russian studies the end of the cold war and i

What do you do when you are the ex-president of a country that no longer exists with a majority of your countrymen bitterly blaming you for their own troubled situations ?