Crucibles of Power: Smolensk under Stalinist and Nazi Rule Showcasing the Great Experiment: Cultural Diplomacy and Western Visitors to the Soviet Union, 1921-1941Crossing Borders: Modernity, Ideology, and Culture in Russia and the Soviet UnionMichael David-Fox began writing Soviet history in a dynamic period. The Soviet Union had just collapsed, archives were flung wide open, and scholars began exploring new ways to conceptualize the Soviet century. And you can read this in David-Fox’s work–a bricolage of historiography, history of knowledge, cross-cultural exchange, politics, power, and the nature of the modern age. As one of founds of Kritika, he’s made his mark on the field. The Eurasian Knot talked to David-Fox about his career, his driving concepts and methods, and the particularities of Soviet modernity. 

Guest:

Michael David-Fox is the Director of the Center for Eurasian, Russian, and East European Studies at Georgetown University and Professor in the School of Foreign Service and Department of History. He is founding and executive editor of Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History and author of several books on Soviet history. His most recent book is Crucibles of Power: Smolensk under Stalinist and Nazi Rule published by Harvard University Press.

Books discussed in this episode:

•  Revolution of the Mind: Higher Learning among the Bolsheviks, 1918–1929.
• Crossing Borders: Modernity, Ideology, and Culture in Russia and the Soviet Union.  
• Showcasing the Great Experiment: Cultural Diplomacy and Western Visitors to the Soviet Union, 1921-1941.
• Crucibles of Power: Smolensk under Stalinist and Nazi Rule.

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