Icon and Axe An Interpretative History of Russian Culture
"A rich and readable introduction to the whole sweep of Russian cultural and intellectual history from Kievan times to the post-Khrushchev era." Library Journal
"Once in a great while a book appears which is so bold and brilliant that all other efforts in its genre seem pallid and ordinary by comparison. James H. Billington's The Icon and the Axe is such a book." Slavic Review
"...I cannot begin to touch on the riches of this book. It is packed with detail without being dry, vivid without being 'colorful, and wide-ranging without crying up special theories." Books Today