I’ve had the good fortune lately to do one of the things I enjoy the most – browse in good bookstores and buy a stock of books to read and add to my library. I cannot think of a more peaceful, pleasurable, and satisfying occupation.

Once, employed in this lovely pursuit, I found waiting for me over the years, among the usual multitude of treasures the Oxford University Press edition of Alexander Herzen’s memoirs. Friends whom I greatly respect had told me about Herzen’s classic quality but until then I had not read anything by him. I soon found that his memoirs are among the greatest and most stimulating books I have ever read.

Alexander Herzen (1812-70) is known as the founder of Russian socialism and the greatest opponent in his time of Czarist autocracy, and I suppose he is studied by political scientists and historians for…..