SUMMARY:

Alexander Etkind approaches the first publication of the lectures on Russian intellectual history by Michael Karpovich as a long-awaited answer to the riddle of this Harvard historian who educated the whole post–World War II generation of American historians of Russia, while not publishing much research work. Etkind analyzes the image of intellectual history that formed this brilliant generation, which included Martin Malia, Marc Raeff, and other famous names in the field. He compares Karpovich’s approach with that of Isaiah Berlin or Raeff, and reconstructs the ideological wars that permeate the lectures. Finally, Etkind stresses the “triple nostalgia” of Karpovich, which supplied his narrative on Russian history with a unique and personal quality.