A profile of Ivan Michurin (1855-1935) the leading Soviet horticulturalist and father of Soviet Darwinism.

This month marks the 25th anniversary of Mikhail Gorbachev's ascent to leadership of the Communist Party. It was a time of hope unbounded, with little hint of the difficult times to come.

How well did Stalin know history? ...Certainly he seemed to learn the lesson of "the Kind Tsar and the Evil Boyars"...

The face off between Fischer and Karpov was the greatest chess match that never was, and it signaled the end of the Golden Era of Soviet chess...

Founded in 1830 by Alexander Pushkin and Anton Delvig, this important newspaper has long been something of a bellweather for Russia's relationship to literature...

In January 1565, Tsar Ivan the Terrible split Russia in two. Five hundred years on, Russia still hasn't gotten over it...

On January 8, 1910, Prima Ballerina Galina Ulanova was born. Unquestionably a great dancer, she has somehow always been above criticism...

Editor Tamara Eidelman reminisces about how little the Berlin Wall was part of Soviet life.

Thirty years ago, the name "Admiral Kolchak" was only mentioned in negative terms; today it is exactly the opposite. Neither interpretation gets it right.

In November 1864, Alexander II introduced jury trials to Russia. It had countless unintended effects and led to a 70-year hiatus in the practice, only recently resurrected.

Where we follow along on Nikita Khrushchev's magical mystery tour of the US in 1959...

Peter I and Sophia (his elder step sister) should not have been at odds. They both carried out some of the same sorts of reforms. But you can only have one tsar...