Keith Gessen is a Russian-American writer, translator, and co-editor of the magazine n+1. In the first half of this podcast he discusses his new novel, A Terrible Country, about a young academic adrift in Russia, as well as his journalism about Russia. In the second half we discuss our differing views of the contemporary American academic scene. You can buy his book here: https://www.amazon.com/Terrible-Country-Novel-Keith-Gessen/dp/0735221316