Hugh Ragsdale studied at the University of North Carolina (A.B.) and the University of Virginia (M.A., Ph.D.). A past recipient of awards from Fulbright, the International Research & Exchanges Board, and the American Council of Learned Societies, he has conducted research in the foreign affairs archives of London, Paris, Vienna, Copenhagen, and Stockholm, as well as Moscow. The Russian Tragedy is his fifth book on the history of Russia.

• Part 1 The Historical Ingredients; Chapter 1 Origins: Russia and the Russian Political Style; Chapter 2 Politics and Religion: The Divorce of State and Society; Chapter 3 Reason and Progress: Peter and Catherine; Chapter 4 Reaction and Revolt: The Imperial Dead End; Chapter 5 Culture, Character, Psyche: A Literary Excursion; Part 2 The Revolutionary Experience; Chapter 6 Reform or Revolution, 1900–1917; Chapter 7 The Awkward World of Leninism, 1917–1928; Chapter 8 The Brave New World of Stalinism, 1928–1953; Chapter 9 Reform or Revolution—Again, 1953–1991; concl Conclusion: A Cautious Prognosis;