About the book: year / From the late 19th century to the beginning of World War II, American experts on Russia studied rapid industrialization and the social upheavals that accompanied it. Diplomats, journalists and scientists from various political circles, passionate about the ideas of modernization, tried to justify or justify the enormous cost of progress - while many American intellectuals in their works used clichés about Russian passivity, “backwardness” and fatalism to explain for themselves the costs that the population borne countries. In his study, David Engerman emphasizes that American interest in Russia and the USSR was primarily related to economics - and shows how this interest ultimately deeply influenced the policies of the United States itself.