Culture Matters in Russia—and Everywhere

This is a superb compendium for anyone wanting to understand the vital role cultural values play in the achievements and failures of any tribe, society, or nation. Only Lawrence Harrison could have brought together thirty-nine of the world’s preeminent experts in human culture to present their work at this historic Moscow Conference. Thanks to Harrison, these are all now captured in this book. Among presenters, Russia’s former Minister of Economic Development, Eygeny Yasin, now Academic Supervisor at the Higher School of Economics, led a group of eight prominent Russians. Their excellent papers (chapters in the book) cover: the role of the Orthodox church; the status of Russia’s market economy; Russians’ views on work; entrepreneurship; private property; security; stability; and other cultural values important in that country—and in all the others as well. -- Steven Pease, author of The Golden Age of Jewish Achievement and co-chair of the US-Russia Foundation
Lawrence Harrison has been a pioneer in applying a cultural perspective to intractable questions of economic and political development. His most famous early work was on Latin America, and now he asks similarly penetrating questions about Russia's present and future. It is a topic of enormous significance, and the chapters in this volume are clarifying and stimulating. -- James Fallows, national correspondent, The Atlantic Monthly