Benjamin Nathans

Alan Charles Kors Professor of History at the University of Pennsylvania.

[Nathan Kiker @nathan_kiker]

Give a listen to @BenjaminNathans discuss Vladimir Putin's transformation from a reasonable nationalist to an imperial Russian leader on @ClearerThnTruth

https://t.co/2vnLb4mdUX

[U.S. Helsinki Commission @HelsinkiComm]

Listen to the full episode with @BenjaminNathans on your preferred podcast platform:
Apple: https://t.co/z21RLgDKud
Spotify: https://t.co/2SYYv5b1ff
YouTube: https://t.co/U7VwrZpk6I (2/2)

[The New York Review of Books @nybooks]

Benjamin (@BenjaminNathans) Nathans on patriotism and dissidence in Alexei Navalny’s posthumous memoir https://t.co/JQWE7mL7fW

[Benjamin Nathans @BenjaminNathans]

Check out "Benjamin Nathans. “Soviet Dissidents: Victors or Losers?”" https://t.co/Vq2DZ44Y0v @eventbritehelp

[Foreign Affairs @ForeignAffairs]

Check out our editors’ and reviewers’ top books from 2025, including new titles by @sfcdaly, @TimPBouverie, @BenjaminNathans, and more.
https://t.co/OR3HztAYgn

[JF Books 季風書園 | 季风书店 @Jifengbooks]

#JFSALON #RSVP #季風人文講壇 #季風講座
To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause: The Many Lives of the Soviet Dissident Movement

1/31, Saturday, 6:00–7:30 PM｜In English
RSVP: https://t.co/oCl2aIyDT4

Half a century ago, the Soviet Union found itself unexpectedly challenged by a group of Soviet citizens who achieved global fame in the longest battle of the Cold War—the battle of ideas. The struggle of Soviet dissidents for the rule of law and human rights made them instant heroes in the West as they pursued the goal of containment of Soviet power from within. Rather than see dissidents as surrogate soldiers of democracy and liberalism beyond the iron curtain, historian Benjamin Nathans begins with the idea that dissidents were Soviet people. How do orthodoxies generate their own heresies? How do people and societies emerge from totalitarian forms of rule? Soviet dissidents did something, as one of them put it, “simple to the point of genius: in an unfree country, they began to conduct themselves like free people.” This was the dissident story inside the drama of Soviet history, and not surprisingly, it turned out to be anything but simple.

About the Speaker
Benjamin Nathans @BenjaminNathans is the Alan Charles Kors Professor of History at the University of Pennsylvania. He is a leading historian of modern Russia and the Soviet Union. His most recent book, To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause: The Many Lives of the Soviet Dissident Movement, received the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction, among other honors. Nathans is also the author of the award-winning Beyond the Pale and a frequent contributor to the New York Review of Books, the Times Literary Supplement, and other major publications.

Moderator:  Joseph Torigian @JosephTorigian is an associate professor at the School of International Service at American University in Washington, DC, and a Center Associate of the Lieberthal-Rogel Center for Chinese Studies at the University of Michigan. Torigian studies the politics of authoritarian regimes with a specific focus on elite power struggles, civil-military relations, and grand strategy. He uses primary sources, rare books, and interviews to provide new accounts of historical milestones in two nations of crucial geopolitical importance: China and Russia.

#季風書園 #季风书园 #季风书店 #季风讲座

[Xavier Colás @xaviercolas]

Soviéticos contra el poder: crónica del éxito invisible de "una causa desesperada". Entrevisto a @BenjaminNathans autor del libro 'To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause: The Many Lives of the Soviet Dissident Movement'.
https://t.co/Ff0ZoX8EFv
La historia de la disidencia soviética es un puzzle con infinitas capas, órbitas y reencarnaciones que logró su objetivo final de socavar al régimen desde dentro y que ofrece valiosas lecciones para el presente. "No creo que Rusia esté predestinada a ser siempre una dictadura", dice Nathans, autor de un ensayo que ha ganado el Premio Pulitzer.
Los ecos de esa lucha resuenan ahora. "Pese al periódico desmantelamiento de los grupos, renacían una y otra vez con otros nombres y métodos". Fundamental: no participaban en el espectáculo de la mentira: "Vivían como personas libres dentro de un estado no libre". Pero ahora "Putin ha sabido crear una Rusia democrática y tomó otra ruta. Su aparato punitivo es mucho más letal que el de Brézhnev".
La disidencia soviética, minoritaria y a menudo rechazada por sus compatriotas más conformistas, no tumbó el sistema, pero sí contribuyó a vaciarlo. En esa lectura se reconcilian el brindis y el diagnóstico: una causa "sin esperanza" que, por repetición y paciencia, encontró sus momentos de éxito. Y que hoy, en la hora más oscura de Rusia, necesita repetirse en su mejor versión.
@LaLectura_EM @elmundoes

[t-online @tonline]

Die sowjetischen Kommunisten duldeten keine Kritik, dennoch fanden Dissidenten den Mut zum Widerspruch. Was ihre Geschichte mit Wladimir #Putin und Alexei #Nawalny zu tun hat, erklärt Historiker @BenjaminNathans.
https://t.co/6D87pazosJ

[Georgetown SFS @georgetownsfs]

Yesterday, SFS & @CERESGeorgetown hosted a conversation with @vkaramurza & @BenjaminNathans, moderated by SFS Prof Michael David-Fox. They discussed the 1960s Soviet dissident movement, civil disobedience & the role of dissidents in today's global rise in authoritarianism.

[Michele A. Berdy @MicheleBerdy]

Here's another must-read book nominated for the Pushkin House Book Prize: Benjamin Nathans' illuminating and captivating history of the dissident movement(s) in the Soviet Union.
https://t.co/2bDBEzgS4w

[Pushkin House @Pushkin_House]

Join us on 16 June where @BenjaminNathans and @martinbright will discuss ‘To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause: The Many Lives of the Soviet Dissident Movement’ – winner of the Pulitzer Prize 2025 for General Nonfiction

https://t.co/DszgDDczQE

[RBmedia @RBmediaCo]

CONGRATULATIONS to @BenjaminNathans' TO THE SUCCESS OF OUR HOPELESS CAUSE for winning the @PulitzerPrizes in General Nonfiction!

Listen to the audiobook, read by Rich Miller! https://t.co/RXE060ERy1

[University of California @UofCalifornia]

🏅 @UCBerkeley alumnus Benjamin Nathans, a professor at @Penn, was awarded the @PulitzerPrizes for general nonfiction for his book “To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause: The Many Lives of the Soviet Dissident Movement.”

[The Pennsylvania Gazette @PennGazette]

The Soviet dissident movement fell short of their aims. But their impact went beyond what they could imagine, says history professor @BenjaminNathans in a new book. | 📝: Trey Popp | 🏷️: #sovietdissident #ussr #newbook https://t.co/NaXreYQfSE

[The New York Review of Books @nybooks]

Benjamin Nathans (@BenjaminNathans) on George Kennan, turbulent sober realist https://t.co/cdX60zkmR9

[Benjamin Nathans @BenjaminNathans]

МАРК ПОМАР у РАШКИНА: Опыт Советских диссидентов https://t.co/2rddUtgVI9 via @YouTube

[Brian Kern / Kong Tsung-gan / 江松澗 @KongTsungGan]

Ten great books from 2024 (& 2023) by @BenjaminNathans @perrylink @jaynorbu
@hishamjmatar @edelstudio @AhmedNajiTW @MatthieuRicardu @yulia_navalnaya etc + a few to look forward to in 2025 by @HanKangOfficial @KenRoth @Hanifkureishi @badiucao @melissakchan.
https://t.co/pAMbj0BmLJ

[Benjamin Nathans @BenjaminNathans]

Chain Reactions https://t.co/5HwZgotBtV

[Gal Beckerman @galbeckerman]

This one benefited enormously from conversations with
@TimothyDSnyder and @BenjaminNathans, and I highly recommend both their recent books, Snyder's "On Freedom" and Nathans's "To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause."

https://t.co/boH3EdOeOr

[The Eurasian Knot (@euraknot.bsky.social) @euraknot]

What was life like in the Soviet era for those who dared to speak out against it? @BenjaminNathans can tell you.
Check out our Instagram to refresh your #euraknot memory with clips from our previous episodes!
https://t.co/FeogYHwO1x