Forgotten Americans (Russian Edition)

The book Forgotten Americans tells the story of two unique personalities that influenced key events in world history: the Confederate States Secretary of State Judah Benjamin and the adviser to the two presidents, US Ambassador to Russia and France William Bullitt.

The first part of the book is devoted to Judas Benjamin, one of the prominent figures of the American South and the Confederation. "Good old American South," the edge of sharp contrasts under the bright sun, has long become a legend. The measured and subtle life of old manors has gone into oblivion. Blown away balls and duels, southern traditions and prejudices. Planters and generals, salon beauties and secular lions became heroes of historical novels, and in every American city, large or small, there is a monument to those who died during the brutal war that split the country into North and South. At the epicenter of this largest storm in American history was a man whose fate, to this day, evokes contradictory responses. Now his name is infrequently mentioned even in the most painstaking works of American historians. Judah Philip Benjamin - a brilliant lawyer, a US senator, a well-known entrepreneur, an outstanding statesman—the conflicts of his life would be enough for several human fates. However, even for people close to him, the “Prince of Confederation” remained a mystery...

The second part of the book is devoted to the influential diplomat William Bullitt. Several dry political studies and only one academic biography fails to reflect his vivid, eventful life in Washington, Moscow, Paris and Vienna.

A journalist and diplomat, a writer and analyst who left a mark on the pages of the novels of Scott Fitzgerald and Mikhail Bulgakov—there are many plot twists in the biography of our hero. Bill Bullitt—perhaps the only co-author of Freud, who saved his teacher from imminent death. He was the first US ambassador to Soviet Russia.

Behind all these historical intricacies loom the main qualities of a diplomat—a special mindset, a rare ability to look far beyond the horizon, insight, which at times acquired the character of prophecy...