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Richard Pipes was a longtime Harvard University professor, historian of Imperial and Soviet Russia, and influential Soviet expert during the Cold War. A towering figure in his field, Pipes produced work that shaped the study of Russian and Soviet history, and he influenced U.S. foreign policy as a public intellectual and political advisor, including as a member of the National Security Council during the Reagan administration. At the same time, Pipes was a controversial figure; his tendency to swim against the intellectual tide and challenge consensus views alienated some colleagues and angered others.
In this biography, Daly cuts through the controversy surrounding Pipes to present a nuanced portrait of his life, thinking, and the philosophical and ethical principles that underpinned his work. Placing Pipes' scholarship and political career in the context of Russian studies, U.S.-Soviet relations, and the Cold War, Daly elucidates Pipes' impact, and argues that his broad learning, keen historical judgment, and humanistic approach permitted him to attain a deep understanding of Russia's historical and contemporary development that continues to resonate today.
"Daly has written a deeply researched, unsentimental, and surprisingly relevant biography of a historian who transformed the field of Soviet studies and the world we live in. This book penetrates the complex ideas in many of Pipes' writings, revealing an elegant thinker who deserves a second look." —Russell E. Martin, Westminster College
"Richard Pipes, Harvard Professor and intellectual giant in Russian history, was shunned by liberals and leftists because of his conservative political views. Jonathan Daly's engaging biography of Pipes will enlighten both his friends and foes and should be read widely." —Hiroaki Kuromiya, Indiana University Bloomington
"Pipes's insights and provocations remain timely. Now that Vladimir Putin has reestablished an autocratic Russia and embarked upon foreign expansion, the emphasis that Pipes placed upon the weakness of civil society and the concomitant sway of the state seems hard to quarrel with. In chronicling his life and work, Daly has performed a valuable service." —Jacob Heilbrunn, The American Conservative
"[The Man Who Knew Russia] does not merely describe Pipes's ideas; it stages them as a comprehensive interpretive system that seeks to explain Russian history from the Tsarist period through the Soviet collapse and into the Putin era." —Sri Lanka Guardian
Preface
Acknowledgments
Conventions Abbreviations, and Major Dates
Introduction
Part One: Scholar
1. Escape to a New World
The Pleiade
2. The Nationalities Question
Best Friends
3. Conservative Political Culture in Russia
The Duel
4. The Russian Intelligentsia
Full Professor: Comity and Clashes
5. Paipovichi
Mugged by the 1960s
Part Two: Cold Warrior
6. The Otherness of Russia
The Lie
7. "Beware: Pipes!"
The Man Academics Loved to Hate
8. Crossroads
Family Man
Part Three: Public Intellectual
9. The Russian Revolution
A Philosophy of History
10. Household Name
Encomia
By Way of Conclusion: Breakthroughs and Achievements
Epilogue
Notes
Works Cited
Index