"... scholarship of the highest order.... Kendall Bailes's book is destined to become a most valuable contribution to our knowledge of Russian and Soviet culture. It is insightful and eloquent." -- Douglas R. Weiner
"... an insightful, richly researched portrait of Vernadsky's life and times... " -- American Scientist
"This biography... not only tells a story full of human drama but also one rich with insights into Russia's higher-education and scientific-research establishments." -- Washington Post Book World
"[This] concise book, with references that stop short of the Gorbachev era, will be the foundation for all future scholarship in English on Vernadsky." -- Nature
"In this insightful exploration of Vernadsky's legacy, Kendall Bailes unveils a creative scholar-activist whose life and work speak more clearly about his time than our own." -- Science
"The Bailes book... is fascinating... Read it!" -- World Affairs Report
"Kendall Bailes has left us with a vivid portrayal of the life and times of Vladimir Vernadsky." -- The Russian Review
"It offers a penetrating analysis of social realities in twentieth-century Russia, which helped create an intellectual culture dominated by ideological extremes." -- American Historical Review
This first full-length English-language biography of Vladimir Vernadsky (1863--1945), one of the leading Russian intellectual figures of the twentieth century, focuses on the interaction between science and politics during Russia's revolutionary age.