The Cultural Gradient

The Transmission of Ideas in Europe, 1789-1991

Edited by Catherine Evtuhov, Stephen Kotkin

Not available to order

Publication date:

27 November 2002

Length of book:

320 pages

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

ISBN-13: 9780742576001

Is there a sharp dividing line that separates Europe into 'East' and 'West'? This volume brings together prominent scholars from the United States, Canada, France, Poland, and Russia to examine the evolution of the concept of Europe in the two centuries between the French Revolution and the collapse of the Soviet Union. Inspired by the ideas of Martin Malia, the contributors take a flexible view of the 'cultural gradient'—the emergence, interaction, and reception of ideas across Europe. The essays address three dimensions of the gradient—the history of ideas, regimes and political practices, and the contemporary political and intellectual scene. In exploring the movement of ideas throughout Europe, The Cultural Gradient brings a new historical perspective to the field of European studies.

Chapter 1 Introduction
Chapter 2 History of Ideas
Chapter 3 Translatio Imperii and Translatio Religionis: The Geography of Salvation in Russian and American Messianic Thinking
Chapter 4 The Religious Westernism of Ivan Gagarin
Chapter 5 Guizot in Russia
Chapter 6 Alexander Herzen's Russian Socialism
Chapter 7 The Problem of Russia and the West in Russian Historiography (with special reference to M.I. Rostovstev and P.N Miliukov)
Chapter 8 William James through a Russian Prism: The Case of the Moscow God-Seekers
Chapter 9 Regimes and Political Practice
Chapter 10 Crosscurrents of French, Austiran, and Russian Security Policing, 1750-1990
Chapter 11 Poland between East and West: Law, Order, and Political Policing in the Kingdom of Poland, 1815-1914
Chapter 12 Terror in Pravda1917-1939: All the News that was Fit to Print
Chapter 13 Modern Times: the Soviet Union and the Interwar Conjuncture
Chapter 14 Persistence of the Ethic of Soviet Socialism in Late Twentieth Century Russia
Chapter 15 The Contemporary Scene: Politics and Intellectuals
Chapter 16 Russia, Europe, and Western Civilization
Chapter 17 A Critique of the Concept of Globalization
Chapter 18 Scenes from the Polish Hell
Chapter 19 Poland, Europe, and Russia
Chapter 20 Foxes into Hedgehogs: Berlin and Tolstoy
Chapter 21 Martin Malia and the Understanding of Russia

A welcome addition to the study of intellectual history. It engages many of the subtle complexities involved in not only understanding Europe's past, but also?and pertinently so?in reflecting upon her future.....