Ethan Pollock Bücher

Between 1945 and 1953, as the Soviet Union faced postwar reconstruction and Cold War challenges, Joseph Stalin engaged deeply with scientific disputes, dictating academic resolutions. He led discussions on "scientific" Marxist-Leninist philosophy, edited reports on genetics and physiology, settled controversies in modern physics, and wrote on linguistics and political economy. While some historians dismiss this as the erratic behavior of a dictator, Ethan Pollock's research reveals Stalin's intention to align scientific truth with Party doctrine. He believed socialism should be scientific, and science must be ideologically sound, positioning himself as a symbol of the union between power and knowledge. By examining six significant postwar debates within the Soviet scientific community, this insightful work illustrates that Stalin's scholarly interventions were influenced by international tensions, institutional conflicts, and uncertainties regarding the relationship between scientific knowledge and Party truths. The science wars were not merely about asserting the Party's rationality; they aimed to codify the Soviet worldview in a global ideological struggle during the early Cold War. Ultimately, the attempt to establish a scientific foundation for Soviet ideology weakened the system's legitimacy.

In The Evolution of Gerald Durrell: A Naturalist's Critical Biography, Mary Sanders Pollock revisits the life and work of Gerald Durrell, one of the most significant environmentalist figures of the 20th century. This new biography tracks Durrell's evolution from a free-range childhood on Corfu through his time in Africa, South America, and the islands of the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Durrell's early work is described in his numerous travel narratives, but his conservation activities culminated in “the stationary ark,” a conservation zoo on the Isle of Jersey which still plays an important role in global wildlife conservation efforts. This biography situates Durrell's writing, collecting, and conservation practices within the frameworks of animal studies, conservation biology, and postcolonial history. Familiarizing readers with the broad range of his cultural impact, from The Corfu Trilogy to his BBC television specials, Pollock shows how Durrell's approach offers models for how life on earth is to thrive and survive: scientists must make greater efforts to touch hearts and minds, and cultural workers must communicate more about science and the perilous existence of other species.

The first history of the banya, this book offers a sweeping cultural history of an institution that is emblematic of Russian identity.