Letters from France and Italy, 1847-1851

by Alexander Herzen, Judith E. Zimmerman (Editor)

Herzen (1812-1870) led a remarkable life as publisher and journalist, enemy of czarist oppression, voice for the Russian opposition and, later, as eyewitness to the 1848 revolution in France and to the early episodes of revolution in the states of the Italian peninsula. His letters, translated from the Italian and edited by Judith Zimmerman (history, U. of Pittsburgh) clearly display his brilliant wit and sensibility and the evolution of his socialist beliefs. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.

304 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 1995

About the author

Alexander Ivanovich Herzen (Russian: Александр Иванович Герцен) was a Russian pro-Western writer and thinker known as the "father of Russian socialism", and one of the main fathers of agrarian populism (being an ideological ancestor of the Narodniki, Socialist-Revolutionaries, Trudoviks and the agrarian American Populist Party). He is held responsible for creating a political climate leading to the emancipation of the serfs in 1861. His autobiography My Past and Thoughts, written with grace, energy, and ease, is often considered the best specimen of that genre in Russian literature. He also published the important social novel Who is to Blame? (1845–46).