About Aaron Weinacht

Aaron Weinacht is Professor of History at the University of Montana Western in Dillon, MT. He teaches courses on Russian and Soviet History, World History, and Philosophy of History. His research interests include the sociological theorist Philip Rieff and the influence of Russian nihilism on American libertarianism.

NBN Episodes hosted by Aaron:

Antony Kalashnikov, "Monuments for Posterity: Self-Commemoration and the Stalinist Culture of Time" (Cornell UP, 2023)

September 23, 2023

Monuments for Posterity

Antony Kalashnikov
Hosted by Aaron Weinacht

Antony Kalashnikov's Monuments for Posterity: Self-Commemoration and the Stalinist Culture of Time (Cornell UP, 2023) analyzes Stalinist monument-buil…

John McCannon, "Nicholas Roerich: The Artist Who Would Be King" (U Pittsburgh Press, 2023)

May 3, 2023

Nicholas Roerich

John McCannon
Hosted by Aaron Weinacht

Dr. John McCannon's new biography of Russian artist, mystic, and all-around fascinating character Nicholas Roerich follows its subject from his artist…

Tim Harte, "Faster, Higher, Stronger, Comrades!: Sports, Art, and Ideology in Late Russian and Early Soviet Culture" (U Wisconsin Press, 2020)

February 5, 2023

Faster, Higher, Stronger, Comrades!

Tim Harte
Hosted by Aaron Weinacht

Dr. Tim Harte's Faster, Higher, Stronger, Comrades!: Sports, Art, and Ideology in Late Russian and Early Soviet Culture (U Wisconsin Press, 2020) look…

Sean Patterson, "Makhno and Memory: Anarchist and Mennonite Narratives of Ukraine's Civil War, 1917-1921" (U Manitoba Press, 2020)

December 10, 2022

Makhno and Memory

Sean Patterson
Hosted by Aaron Weinacht

In the chaos of the end of WWI, the Russian Civil War, and a brief period of Ukrainian independence there occurred a series of massacres of German Men…

Jeffrey Bilbro, "Reading the Times: A Literary and Theological Inquiry into the News" (IVP Academic, 2021)

October 31, 2022

Reading the Times

Jeffrey Bilbro
Hosted by Aaron Weinacht

Whenever we reach for our phones or scan a newspaper to get caught up, we are being not merely informed but also formed. News consumption can shape ou…

Daniel B. Rowland, "God, Tsar, and People: The Political Culture of Early Modern Russia" (Northern Illinois UP, 2020)

October 6, 2022

God, Tsar, and People

Daniel B. Rowland
Hosted by Aaron Weinacht

In God, Tsar and People: The Political Culture of Early Modern Russia (Northern Illinois UP, 2020), Dr. Daniel Rowland collects close to 50 years of s…

Donald Ostrowski, "Russia in the Early Modern World: The Continuity of Change" (Lexington, 2022)

September 27, 2022

Russia in the Early Modern World

Donald Ostrowski
Hosted by Aaron Weinacht

In Russia in the Early Modern World: The Continuity of Change (Lexington, 2022), Donald Ostrowski takes on the long-lived narrative that Peter the Gre…

Charles J. Halperin, "Ivan the Terrible in Russian Historical Memory Since 1991" (Academic Studies Press, 2021)

April 29, 2022

Ivan the Terrible in Russian Historical Memory Since 1991

Charles J. Halperin
Hosted by Aaron Weinacht

Dr. Charles Halperin's latest work on Ivan the Terrible analyzes Ivan's image in post-Soviet Russian memory. Halperin addresses a wide variety of sour…

Vanessa Rampton, "Liberal Ideas in Tsarist Russia: From Catherine the Great to the Russian Revolution" (Cambridge UP, 2020)

March 25, 2022

Liberal Ideas in Tsarist Russia

Vanessa Rampton
Hosted by Aaron Weinacht

In the conclusion to Vanessa Rampton's new book on Russian liberalism, the author remarks that "the prospects for liberal development in countries suc…

Paul Werth, "1837: Russia's Quiet Revolution" (Oxford UP, 2021)

September 7, 2021

1837

Paul Werth
Hosted by Aaron Weinacht

When considering pivotal years in Russian history, one naturally thinks of 1861 (the Serf Emancipation), the 1905 Revolution, or the 1917 Bolshevik Re…

Carol Any, "The Soviet Writers' Union and Its Leaders: Identity and Authority Under Stalin" (Northwestern UP, 2020)

April 28, 2021

The Soviet Writers' Union and Its Leaders

Carol Any
Hosted by Aaron Weinacht

Dr. Carol Any’s The Soviet Writer’s Union and Its Leaders: Identity and Authority Under Stalin (Northwestern University Press, 2020) covers the writer…

James White, "Unity in Faith?: Edinoverie, Russian Orthodoxy, and Old Belief, 1800-1918" (Indiana UP, 2020)

April 16, 2021

Unity in Faith?

James White
Hosted by Aaron Weinacht

Dr. James White’s new book, Unity in Faith?: Edinoverie, Russian Orthodoxy, and Old Belief, 1800-1918 (Indiana University Press, 2020) discusses the R…

Ethan Pollock, "Without the Banya We Would Perish: A History of the Russian Bathhouse" (Oxford UP, 2019)

March 4, 2021

Without the Banya We Would Perish

Ethan Pollock
Hosted by Aaron Weinacht

In Without the Banya We Would Perish: A History of the Russian Bathhouse (Oxford University Press, 2019), Dr. Ethan Pollock discusses one of life’s ba…

Roger R. Reese, "The Imperial Russian Army in Peace, War, and Revolution, 1856-1917" (UP of Kansas, 2019)

February 22, 2021

The Imperial Russian Army in Peace, War, and Revolution, 1856-1917

Roger R. Reese
Hosted by Aaron Weinacht

Roger Reese’s recent book, The Imperial Russian Army in Peace, War, and Revolution, 1856-1917 (University of Kansas, 2019), takes a deep dive into th…

Julius Margolin, "Journey Into the Land of the Zeks and Back: A Memoir of the Gulag" (Oxford UP, 2020)

November 12, 2020

Journey Into the Land of the Zeks and Back

Julius Margolin
Hosted by Aaron Weinacht

Julius Margolin was a Polish Jew caught between the twin 1939 invasions of Poland by Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia. He spent the years 1940-1945 in S…

Ronald Grigor Suny, "Stalin: Passage to Revolution" (Princeton UP, 2020)

November 11, 2020

Stalin

Ronald Grigor Suny
Hosted by Aaron Weinacht

Ronald Suny’s recent biography of the young Stalin, Stalin: Passage to Revolution (Princeton, 2020) covers “Soso” Jughashvili’s life up to the 1917 Re…

Joshua Kotin, "Utopias of One" (Princeton UP, 2017)

October 9, 2020

Utopias of One

Joshua Kotin
Hosted by Aaron Weinacht

Joshua Kotin’s Utopias of One (Princeton University Press, 2017) analyzes a particular and peculiar sub-genre of utopian literature. Kotin identifies …

Donald Ostrowski, "Who Wrote That?: Authorship Controversies from Moses to Sholokhov" (Northern Illinois UP, 2020)

September 25, 2020

Who Wrote That?

Donald Ostrowski
Hosted by Aaron Weinacht

Who Wrote That?: Authorship Controversies from Moses to Sholokhov (Northern Illinois University Press) is Harvard historian Donald Ostrowski’s sustain…

Iva Glisic, "The Futurist Files: Avant-Garde, Politics, and Ideology in Russia, 1905–1930" (NIU Press, 2018)

May 21, 2020

The Futurist Files

Iva Glisic
Hosted by Aaron Weinacht

Futurism was Russia's first avant-garde movement. Gatecrashing the Russian public sphere in the early twentieth century, the movement called for the d…

Maurice Finocchiaro, "On Trial for Reason: Science, Religion, and Culture in the Galileo Affair" (Oxford UP, 2019)

March 26, 2020

On Trial for Reason

Maurice Finocchiaro
Hosted by Aaron Weinacht

In his new book On Trial for Reason: Science, Religion, and Culture in the Galileo Affair (Oxford University Press, 2019), Maurice Finocchiaro shows t…

Katya Cengel, "From Chernobyl with Love" (U Nebraska Press, 2019)

December 11, 2019

From Chernobyl with Love

Katya Cengel
Hosted by Aaron Weinacht

Katya Cengel’s From Chernobyl with Love: Reporting from the Ruins of the Soviet Union (University of Nebraska Press, 2019) is an engaging memoir of a …

John P. Davis, "Russia in the Time of Cholera: Disease under Romanovs and Soviets" (Bloomsbury Academic, 2018)

November 29, 2019

Russia in the Time of Cholera

John P. Davis
Hosted by Aaron Weinacht

The idea of “backwardness” often plagues historical writing on Russia. In Russia in the Time of Cholera: Disease under Romanovs and Soviets (Bloomsbur…

Charles Halperin, "Ivan the Terrible: Free to Reward and Free to Punish" (U Pittsburgh Press, 2019)

November 21, 2019

Ivan the Terrible

Charles Halperin
Hosted by Aaron Weinacht

In Ivan the Terrible: Free to Reward and Free to Punish (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2019, Dr. Charles Halperin provides a new analysis of Ivan’s …

Donald Ostrowski, "Europe, Byzantium, and the 'Intellectual Silence' of Rus’ Culture" (Arc Humanities Press, 2018)

November 6, 2019

Europe, Byzantium, and the 'Intellectual Silence' of Rus’ Culture

Donald Ostrowski
Hosted by Aaron Weinacht

In Europe, Byzantium, and the “Intellectual Silence” of Rus’ Culture (Arc Humanities Press, 2018), Dr. Donald Ostrowski pens a fresh look at an old qu…