I came to know Dr. Mark Bassin well during his graduate studies at the University of California in Berkeley. I remember how shortly after we met he asked me to speak Russian with him as much as possible. To be sure, he already read fluently and could use a variety of Russian sources. But he also wanted to speak the language correctly and to be as close to the Russian tongue and Russian culture as possible. So we spoke Russian, and still do when we meet. Bassin's request made it easier for me to follow over the years his progress in Russian to a very high degree of proficiency. I think that the translations from Russian in the present book, including poetry, are excellent. Apparently Bassin learned German in the same fundamental manner. The larger point is that Bassin as a scholar is the opposite of parochial. A young American who has already lived, studied, taught, conducted research, or engaged in some combination of these activities in England, Canada, Russia, and Germany, he is naturally part of the entire Western intellectual world, without fear or favor. In reference to the present work and to his treatment of Russia in general, Bassin is entirely free of the sense of unfathomable difference, mystery, or strangeness which continues to spoil so much Western scholarship on Russia.

Mark Bassin is both a geographer and an intellectual historian, and he is very well aware of his special position and allegiance to both disciplines.