War With Russia?

Stephen F. Cohen passed away on September 18, 2020, at the age of 81. He was Professor Emeritus of Politics at Princeton University, where for many years he was also director of the Russian Studies Program, and Professor Emeritus of Russian Studies and History at New York University. He grew up in Owensboro, Kentucky, and received his undergraduate and master’s degrees at Indiana University and his Ph.D. at Columbia University.Cohen’s other books include Bukharin and the Bolshevik Revolution: A Political Biography; Rethinking the Soviet Experience: Politics and History Since 1917; Sovieticus: American Perceptions and Soviet Realities(with Katrina vanden Heuvel); Voices of Glasnost: Interviews With Gorbachev’s Reformers; Failed Crusade: America and the Tragedy of Post-Communist Russia; Soviet Fates and Lost Alternatives: From Stalinism to the New Cold War; and The Victims Return: Survivors of the Gulag After Stalin.For his scholarly work, Cohen eceived several honors, including two Guggenheim fellowships and a National Book Award nomination.Over the years, he had also been a frequent contributor to newspapers, magazines, television, and radio. His “Sovieticus” column for The Nation won a 1985 Newspaper Guild Page One Award and for another Nation article a 1989 Olive Branch Award. For many years, Cohen was a consultant and on-air commentator on Russian affairs for CBS News. With the producer Rosemary Reed, he was also project adviser and correspondent for three PBS documentary films about Russia: Conversations With Gorbachev; Russia Betrayed?; and Widow of the Revolution.Cohen visited and lived in Soviet and Post-Soviet Russia regularly for more than forty years.

Praise for War With Russia?“A fantastic new book, which you should read.” —Tucker Carlson“Cohen sees himself as a balancer, getting readers to see the other side. He laments what he terms ‘Russophobia’ among much of the American political class as well as high-profile journalists and academics. … At times, Cohen is a provocateur, but if he compels us to sharpen our analysis by examining a contrarian position, this is not such a bad thing. He often brings to light questions that others have neglected. He is especially adept at taking sometimes unfocused or ideologically eccentric views emanating from Russia and turning them into succinct, declarative statements. This alone is helpful. In our current volatile climate, dissenting voices are necessary to the conversation.”—Military Review journal, review essay by Robert F. Baumann, PhD“The title of Cohen’s book is intended not as a prophecy but a warning. In the overexcited debate about Putin and Trump, Cohen chooses to eschew moderation because he believes that in practice that results in conformity with an anti-Russia narrative that is not only wrong but dangerous. This book will delight his supporters and enrage his opponents, while readers of a moderate persuasion will be able to admire the passion and tenacity of his resistance to the trend towards provoking war with Russia.” —Irish Times, reviewed by Geoffrey Roberts, emeritus professor of history at University College Cork and a member of the Royal Irish Academy"It’s a page-turner."—Consortium News, reviewed by Ann GarrisonPraise for Stephen F. Cohen’s BooksBukharin and The Bolshevik Revolution: A Political Biography“This magnificent book will come to be regarded … as one of the two or three really outstanding studies in the history of the Soviet Union of the past 25 years.”—The New York Review of BooksRethinking the Soviet Experience“[Cohen] clarifies Russian issues better than anyone has in the past decade.”—Cleveland Plain DealerSovieticus: American Perceptions and Soviet Realities“A model of scholarly journalism, sound and wonderfully readable.”—Publishers WeeklyFailed Crusade: America and the Tragedy of Post-Communist Russia“A blistering, brilliant, and deeply felt critique of America’s decade-long daydream of a Russia in transition.”—Kirkus ReviewsThe Victims Return“A striking memoir … Russians today are inheritors of an unspeakably immense crime, and Cohen engages fully — and personally — with the debate on the way they continue to grapple with their Stalinist legacy.”—The New Yorker Soviet Fates and Lost Alternatives“An extraordinarily rich book …an absolutely vital beginning point for anyone interested in a serious study of political and foreign policy developments involving Russia.”—Slavic Review“Cohen’s ideas about Russia, which once got him invited to Camp David to advise a sitting president, now make him the most controversial expert in the field.”—The Chronicle Review