Russia and America: Problems of communication between cultures

This book analyzes the emergence and development of the popular image of Russia among the American populace. According to the author, popular stereotypes are instrumental in attaining a clearer self-understanding by the stereotyped nation. The book comments on the dissemination of knowledge about Russia among Americans in the 1850s and on the birth of a fashionable idea about similarities between the destinies of the two multinational countries, both of which possessed vast territories and rich natural resources, moved toward the Pacific while expanding their domains, were the last among civilized nations to abolish slavery, made a significant economic and technological headway in the mid-19th century, had started their development late in history, were driven by messianic claims, with "the Russian idea" and Orthodox asceticism being a close counterpart to "the American dream" and Protestant Puritanism. The subsequent cooling in the relationship between the countries did nothing more than to change the emotional coloring of the existing conventional images. Much of the focus is on the European travels of Americans, who tended to include Russia in their itinerary as their furthermost and most exotic port of call. Bibliography.