Rossiia v Poiskakh Sebia =Russia in Search of Itself

The author, an American Slavicist and the director of the Library of Congress, asserts that Russia had no specific national identity until the 19th century. The search for national individuality that started in the nineteenth century was accompanied with stormy debates among Russian intellectuals, which finally caused several social cataclysms, and produced new social theories and practices; utopian ideocracy, Russian chauvinism, sanctioned "vozhdizm", and authoritarian rule. Analyzing the current state of Russian society, the author finds that Russians move from despair to moderate optimism, and are seeking for a new self-identity. Bibliographic references.