Through his brilliant work on the Soviet Union during the Second World War and his penetrating interpretations of the Soviet system and its place in world politics, Alex Dallin exercised a profound influence on generations of scholars. His research remains important not only for the substance of his analyses but also for the thoughtful and probing intelligence he brought to the issue of how to study the Soviet Union. It is very good to have these examples of his writing available together in this book.

David Holloway, Stanford University

These ten essays reflect the remarkable breadth and analytic depth that marked Alex Dallin's preeminence as a teacher and scholar. Their insights continue to inform our understanding of Soviet and post-Soviet history and politics by critiquing, retrospectively, many common and distorting assumptions. As they are brought together in this new volume, Dallin's writings again constitute a refreshing and most welcome contribution to the historical and contemporary literature.

William G. Rosenberg, University of Michigan