Dr. Viktoria Zhuravleva presented the book "The Common Past of Russians and Americans" for the first time

An expert discussion on the history of Russian-American relations was held at the Russian Council of International Affairs, during which Dr. Viktoria Zhuravleva, Chair of the Department of American Studies at RSUH, Deputy Dean for Research at the Faculty of International Relations, Political Science and Foreign Area Studies, presented her work "The Common Past of the Russians and the Americans".

The publication was the result of Dr. Zhuravleva’s many years of research, her teaching activities at RSUH and her work on the Internet project "Discover America".

Several central ideas of the book are:

• Firstly, they are the variety of forms of interaction between the peoples of the two countries, their important contribution to the development of each other, whether it be academic, technical or technological assistance from Americans to Russians, or the role of Russian emigration in the development of culture, art, science and business in the United States.
• Secondly, the trends of coexistence, having arisen, have not disappeared as they continue to determine the content, logic and dynamics of Russian-American relations.
• Thirdly, the mutual attraction and repulsion between Russia and the United States, which led to cycles of hopes and disappointments, to the use of the image of another country as an object for comparison, which makes it possible to emphasize the merits of one's own development, and sometimes, on the contrary, renders them the subject of critical reflections.
• Fourthly, the need to expand reciprocal knowledge of each other, which allows us to abandon the one-dimensional perception of what is happening on the other side of the Atlantic. Of paramount importance is the formation of this knowledge, the development of professional Russian and American studies, the interaction between the expert communities of the two countries that lead to the development of a sense of empathy, the ability to look at the situation through the eyes of the opposite side.

“I wanted to convey to the reader a very simple idea: the Russians and the Americans have a common past, which they can rightfully be proud of. It is very important not plunge it into oblivion, no matter how the climate of relations changes, and no matter how the present tries to orchestrate it. The past of our relations is very instructive, if there is a desire to learn from it.”

—Professor Viktoria Zhuravleva

The book consists of thirteen chapters/lectures and covers all the most important aspects of Russian-American relations - political, economic, socio-cultural and imagological, starting from the 19th century and going up to the present time. If desired, each teacher, student or any other reader can build their own trajectories of getting acquainted with the common past of the peoples of the two countries, referring to the study of additional materials proposed by the author.

“Recently, we haven’t seen many worthy books written on American history and Russian-American relations. Viktoria Ivanovna has written about the burning issues of the day even though book is the fruit of more than one year’s labor. A professor at a university usually nurtures such topics like a child. It is important for future generations to know and remember how relations between our states and societies can and should be built.”

— Dr. Valery Garbuzov, Director of the Institute of the USA and Canada

It is also important to note that the texts of the lectures are presented in Russian and English, which will allow a wide audience of foreign readers to get acquainted with the important work of the Russian scholar. The book is already in demand in Russian studies programs at US universities.

The following experts took part in the discussion:

• Dr. Viktoria Zhuravleva, Chair of the Department of American Studies, Faculty of International Relations, Political Science and Foreign Area Studies RSUH, RIAC Expert;
• Dr. Valery Garbuzov, Director of the Institute for the US and Canadian Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, member of RIAC;
• Dr. Jack Matlock, US Ambassador to the USSR (1987–1991);
• Dr. Mark Kramer, Director of the Program on Cold War Studies at Harvard University, Senior Fellow at the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University;
• Dr. Ivan Kurilla, Professor at the European University at St. Petersburg, RIAC Expert.

At the end of the event, the participants expressed their hope that the conversation about the book would continue on the pages of Russian and American scholarly publications, as well as for further popularization of the history of Russian-American relations, the knowledge of which is necessary for an objective view of the present.

Video of the event is available here.