Description: Kistiakovsky railed against Lenin's concept of a vanguard party to lead the revolution and advocated a government based on respect for human rights and constitutional federalism. Heuman shows the fresh urgency of Kistiakovsky's ideas as countries of the former Soviet Union seek to establish precisely those values that he put forth 90 years ago.
Brief description: Susan Heuman is Associate Professor of History at Manhattanville College.
Review Quotes: [Heuman's] lucid scholarly account places [Kistiakovsky] firmly in his social and intellectual context, and provides a fascinating picture of the complex intermingling of diverse currents of thought in the early twentieth-century Russian Empire.--Maureen Perrie "English Historical Review"