Solzhenitsyn at Harvard: The Address, Twelve Early Responses, and Six Later Reflections (Ethics and Public Policy Reprints)

When Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn gave the commencement address A World Split Apart at Harvard University in 1978, many Americans expected to hear their country praised by this celebrated refugee from a totalitarian state. Instead they heard some sharply critical views of their legal system, their press, their popular culture, and even their national will. The forthright and controversial speech makes up Part One of this book. A sampling of the avalanche of responses from the commentariat is included in Part Two, including newspaper articles and essays by thinkers such as Archibald MacLeish, Mary McGrory and Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. In Part Three, six thoughtful scholars include Sidney Hook and Richard Pipes reflect, after the furor had somewhat subsided, on the ideas and judgments expressed by the great Russian writer. 143 pages.