Steven Durlauf
@durlauf.bsky.social
Professor, Harris School of Public Policy, Director, Stone Center for Research on Wealth Inequality and Mobility, University of Chicago
1/ I highly recommend The First Russian Revolution by Susanna Rabow-Edling. She provides an extremely readable narrative history of the Decembrist Revolt. A path not taken? Too speculative. But certainly the book succeeds in demonstrating longstanding important liberal currents in Russian thought.
November 17, 2025 at 12:29 AM
1/ I highly recommend The First Russian Revolution by Susanna Rabow-Edling. She provides an extremely readable narrative history of the Decembrist Revolt. A path not taken? Too speculative. But certainly the book succeeds in demonstrating longstanding important liberal currents in Russian thought.
The wonderful 2025 Nobel Prize in Economics brought to mind this Soviet poster which embodies a different set of ideas: "Let Us Speed Up the Pace of Technological Progress!"
October 19, 2025 at 5:05 AM
The wonderful 2025 Nobel Prize in Economics brought to mind this Soviet poster which embodies a different set of ideas: "Let Us Speed Up the Pace of Technological Progress!"
Worker seizes the means of production.
July 26, 2025 at 8:46 PM
Worker seizes the means of production.
4/ Pedigree is a wonderful study, based on interviews and observation, of the process of hiring at elite firms. I strongly recommend.
February 11, 2025 at 12:42 AM
4/ Pedigree is a wonderful study, based on interviews and observation, of the process of hiring at elite firms. I strongly recommend.
13. Vladislav Zubok, Collapse: The Fall of the Soviet Union
December 21, 2024 at 5:16 AM
13. Vladislav Zubok, Collapse: The Fall of the Soviet Union
12. James White, Marx and Russia: Fate of a Doctrine
December 21, 2024 at 5:16 AM
12. James White, Marx and Russia: Fate of a Doctrine
11. William Taubman, Gorbachev: His Life and Times
December 21, 2024 at 5:16 AM
11. William Taubman, Gorbachev: His Life and Times
10. S. A. Smith, Russia in Revolution: An Empire in Crisis, 1890 to 1928
December 21, 2024 at 5:16 AM
10. S. A. Smith, Russia in Revolution: An Empire in Crisis, 1890 to 1928
9. Jonathan Smele, The 'Russian' Civil Wars, 1916-1926: Ten Years That Shook the World
December 21, 2024 at 5:16 AM
9. Jonathan Smele, The 'Russian' Civil Wars, 1916-1926: Ten Years That Shook the World
8. Yuri Slezkine, The House of Government: A Saga of the Russian Revolution
December 21, 2024 at 5:16 AM
8. Yuri Slezkine, The House of Government: A Saga of the Russian Revolution
7. Karl Schlögel, The Soviet Century: Archaeology of a Lost World
December 21, 2024 at 5:16 AM
7. Karl Schlögel, The Soviet Century: Archaeology of a Lost World
6. Benjamin Nathans, To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause: The Many Lives of the Soviet Dissident Movement
December 21, 2024 at 5:16 AM
6. Benjamin Nathans, To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause: The Many Lives of the Soviet Dissident Movement
5. Oleg Khlevniuk, Stalin: New Biography of a Dictator
December 21, 2024 at 5:16 AM
5. Oleg Khlevniuk, Stalin: New Biography of a Dictator
4. Mark Harrison @mark4harrison.bsky.social, Secret Leviathan: Secrecy and State Capacity Under Soviet Communism
December 21, 2024 at 5:16 AM
4. Mark Harrison @mark4harrison.bsky.social, Secret Leviathan: Secrecy and State Capacity Under Soviet Communism
3. Wendy Goldman and Donald Filtzer, Fortress Dark and Stern: The Soviet Home Front during World War II
December 21, 2024 at 5:16 AM
3. Wendy Goldman and Donald Filtzer, Fortress Dark and Stern: The Soviet Home Front during World War II
2. Laura Engelstein, Russia in Flames: War, Revolution, Civil War, 1914-1921
December 21, 2024 at 5:16 AM
2. Laura Engelstein, Russia in Flames: War, Revolution, Civil War, 1914-1921
(Relatively) recent books on the Soviet Union that I found especially enlightening.
1. Evgeny Dobrenko, Late Stalinism: The Aesthetics of Politics
1. Evgeny Dobrenko, Late Stalinism: The Aesthetics of Politics
December 21, 2024 at 5:16 AM
(Relatively) recent books on the Soviet Union that I found especially enlightening.
1. Evgeny Dobrenko, Late Stalinism: The Aesthetics of Politics
1. Evgeny Dobrenko, Late Stalinism: The Aesthetics of Politics
13. David Lay Williams @laywilliams.bsky.social, The Greatest of All Plagues: How Economic Inequality Shaped Political Thought from Plato to Marx
December 20, 2024 at 1:14 AM
13. David Lay Williams @laywilliams.bsky.social, The Greatest of All Plagues: How Economic Inequality Shaped Political Thought from Plato to Marx
12. Manisha Sinha @profmsinha.bsky.social, The Rise and Fall of the Second American Republic
December 20, 2024 at 1:14 AM
12. Manisha Sinha @profmsinha.bsky.social, The Rise and Fall of the Second American Republic
11. Sebastien Roch, Modern Discrete Probability: An Essential Toolkit (great exposition of mathematics needed for comprehensively measuring persistent inequality)
December 20, 2024 at 1:14 AM
11. Sebastien Roch, Modern Discrete Probability: An Essential Toolkit (great exposition of mathematics needed for comprehensively measuring persistent inequality)
10. Austin Reeves and Sam Friedman @samfriedman.bsky.social, Born to Rule: The Making and Remaking of the British Elite
December 20, 2024 at 1:14 AM
10. Austin Reeves and Sam Friedman @samfriedman.bsky.social, Born to Rule: The Making and Remaking of the British Elite
9. Darrin McMahon, Equality: The History of an Elusive Idea
December 20, 2024 at 1:14 AM
9. Darrin McMahon, Equality: The History of an Elusive Idea
8. Brook Manville and Josiah Ober, The Civic Bargain: How Democracy Survives
December 20, 2024 at 1:14 AM
8. Brook Manville and Josiah Ober, The Civic Bargain: How Democracy Survives
7. Niko Kolodny, The Pecking Order: Social Hierarchy as a Philosophical Problem
December 20, 2024 at 1:14 AM
7. Niko Kolodny, The Pecking Order: Social Hierarchy as a Philosophical Problem
6. Steven Hahn, Illiberal America
December 20, 2024 at 1:14 AM
6. Steven Hahn, Illiberal America