Title

Vixi : memoirs of a non-belonger

Description

Sixteen-year-old Richard Pipes escaped from Nazi-occupied Warsaw with his family in October 1939. Their flight took them to the United States by way of Italy, and Pipes went on to earn a college degree, join the U.S. Air Corps, serve as professor of Russian history at Harvard for nearly forty years, and become advisor to President Reagan on Soviet and Eastern European affairs. In this book, the eminent historian remembers the events of his own remarkable life as well as the unfolding of some of the twentieth century's most extraordinary political events. "Pipes shows us the inner workings of Harvard University during its Golden Age, discusses the nature of Soviet Communism during the Cold War years, and describes from an insider's perspective the conflicts within the Reagan administration over American policies toward the USSR. He offers portraits of such cultural and political figures as Isaiah Berlin, Ronald Reagan, and Alexander Haig, as well as unique observations on his Polish homeland, Jewish heritage, and the process of assimilation into American culture. Perhaps most interesting of all, Pipes depicts his evolution as a historian and his understanding of how history is witnessed and how it is recorded."--BOOK JACKET.

Identifier

1141666

300101651

Creator

Pipes, Richard

Source

Brian Lamb Booknotes Collection

Gift of Brian Lamb, 2011.

Catalog record

Language

eng

Date

2003

Program air date: December 7, 2003

Publisher

Yale University Press

George Mason University. Libraries. Special Collections & Archives

Text

Transcription of Annotations
Extensive notes from front and endpapers, concerning significant events in author's life including his escape from Warsaw in 1939, experiences serving in the army during WW2, education, time as a Harvard professor, at the NSC, Dept. of State, his work on NSDD 75, and work for the Reagan Administration, return to Harvard, and retirement. Annotations by Brian Lamb in the margins and underlining of pertinent phrases throughout the book. Examples include: "Experience with these sanctions taught me why intellectuals in general and academics in particular have so little influence on policy." "Detente was dead." and "It was freedome not power that I yearned for."

Subject

"Pipes, Richard."

"Historians--United States--Biography."

"Sovietologists--United States--Biography."

Rights

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