Exploring Soviet and Russian history, politics, and foreign policy, The Uses of History brings together the classic essays of renowned scholar Alexander Dallin. The author provides insightful analysis and nuanced interpretations of such key-and controversial-issues as the domestic sources of Soviet foreign policy, Stalin's leadership in World War II, Russian-American relations in the Reagan era, the causes of the collapse of the USSR, and the disappointments of Russia's post-Soviet evolution. With his incisive assessment of the biases and blunders in American interpretations, Dallin rejects single-factor explanations for Soviet and Russian domestic and foreign policies, instead examining the complex interplay of internal and external conditions, institutions, mindsets, and the role of individual leaders. All readers interested in Soviet and post-Soviet history will find this collection a stimulating and deeply knowledgeable resource.
Alexander Davidovich Dallin (21 May 1924 – 22 July 2000) was an American historian, political scientist, and international relations scholar at Columbia University, where he was the Adlai Stevenson Professor of International Relations and the director of the Russian Institute. Dallin was also the Raymond A. Spruance Professor of International History at Stanford University, and served as Director for the Center for Russian and East European Studies.
. . .From 1954 to 1956, he was director of research at the War Documentation Project in Washington and Virginia, analyzing captured German documents from the war. Stemming in part from his interviews during the Harvard Project, in 1957 Dallin published German Rule in Russia, 1941-1945, which became the classic, definitive account of the German occupation of parts of Russia during World War II. It won the George Louis Beer Prize for European international history since 1895.
In 1956, Dallin became an assistant professor of political science at Columbia University. He subsequently became professor of international relations in 1961 and received the Adlai Stevenson chair in 1965. Dallin was director of Columbia's Russian Institute from 1962 to 1967. While at Columbia, he was recipient of one of the Guggenheim Fellowships awarded in 1961[8] and a Fulbright Hays fellowship in 1965–66. He made several appearances as a presenter on the nationally broadcast television series Columbia Lectures in International Studies. Dallin also served as a part-time consultant to the U.S. Government during much of the 1960s. Marshall D. Shulman, who also served as director of the Russian Institute, later noted Dallin's objectivity, saying, "In a field riven by political controversy, he was universally respected as a voice of common sense and scholarly detachment rooted in a solid historical backing."
Video Title: Dmitry Polyanskiy: A Strategic Mistake to Make Russia an Enemy. Source: Glenn Diesen. Date Published: July 25, 2025. Description:
Dmitry Polyanskiy is the First Deputy Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations. Polyanskiy argues that it is still possible to improve relations with the US, while Europe has decided to make Russia its enemy. Germany has especially become a great concern for Russia.
