Ten things you didn't know about Russia

[Valentino, Russell]

There is also a well-researched list, with far more than the variety of trivia (interesting trivia, of course) collected here: Steven Marks, How Russia Shaped the Modern World: From Art to Antisemitism, Ballet to Bolshevism (and those are only the As and Bs).
 
A couple of examples of particular interest from that source: Kropotkin's influence on the city green movement (through a variety of intermediaries); Tolstoy's influence on the U.S. civil rights movement (again through middle terms, like Ghandi); the particularly virulent form of antisemitism that came out of Russia at the end of the 19th beginning of the 20th cc. that produced the Black Hundreds and the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, still easy to find in popular sources; the Tolstoy-Stanislavsky influence on the method acting of Brando, DeNiro, et al.
 
The book's weak point is its short synopses of the works of various thinkers, which can sometimes be reductive, but it is especially good at tracing influences around the world, e.g., Bakunin in Japan, Dostoevsky in Egypt, Latin America, and so on.
 
Kropotkin's doctrine of cooperationism, rather than competition, as the guiding principle of evolution (which Marks explores) ties in with another, oft-neglected but excellent study: Daniel P. Todes, Darwin Without Malthus: the Struggle for Existence in Evolutionary Thought, which advances the thesis that Russian biologists, observing the ecosystems of the steppe, created the discipline of ecology at the end of the 19th century.

________________________________

From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list on behalf of Sohail Abdullah
Sent: Wed 3/19/2008 8:19 AM
To: SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Ten things you didn't know about Russia



i find this conversation very very interesting
i don't know if people consider it odd, but places mentioned in Crime and
Punishment are still very much there in St. Petersburg.

On Wed, Mar 19, 2008 at 6:14 PM, Hunter, Robert (Psychology) <
rhunter at monroecc.edu> wrote:

> A strong ditto to the request to summarize the list.
>
> Robert Hunter
> rhunter at monroecc.edu
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list on
> behalf of John Langran
> Sent: Wed 3/19/2008 4:53 AM
> To: SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu
> Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Ten things you didn't know about Russia
>
> The largest fresh water lake on the planet, with its own unique species of
> flora and fauna
> John Langran
> www.ruslan.co.uk
>
> Andy - this is becoming an impressive list. Will you summarise it for us?
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <ameliede at EARTHLINK.NET>
> To: <SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu>
> Sent: Wednesday, March 19, 2008 5:56 AM
> Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Ten things you didn't know about Russia
>
>
> > At 09:27 PM 3/18/2008, you wrote:
> >>Not to mention Russia gave us the periodic table of elements, the
> concept
> >>of
> >>classical (psychological) conditioning, the first satellite, first
> >>artificial heart, and the AK-47.
> >
> > Not to mention the best WW II battle tank--the T-34.
> > Jules Levin
> >
> >
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--
Best Regards

Sohail Abdullah
Sr. Creative Group Head
Soho Square Pvt Ltd.
0321-5213015

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