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Riasanovsky, Nicholas Valentine (39329056): Difference between revisions

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|birth_place=Harbin (then in
|birth_place=Harbin, China
|death_place=Oakland, California
|death_place=Oakland, California
|birth_date=21 December 1923
|birth_date=21 December 1923
|death_date=14 May 2011
|death_date=14 May 2011
|photo=Nicholas_V_Riasanovsky_39329056_later_portrait.webp
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Nicholas Valentine Riasanovsky (born Nicolai Valentinovitch Riasanovskiy; (December 21, 1923 – May 14, 2011) was a professor at the University of California, Berkeley and the author of numerous books on Russian history and European intellectual history.
'''Nicholas V. Riasanovsky''' (21 December 1923&ndash;14 May 2011) was a Harbin-born Russian émigré historian, Camp Ritchie trainee ([[:Category:Class 10|Class 10]]), and longtime University of California, Berkeley professor best known for ''A History of Russia''.
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== Biography ==
== Biography ==
Nicholas Valentine Riasanovsky (born Nicolai Valentinovitch Riasanovskiy; (December 21, 1923 – May 14, 2011) was a professor at the University of California, Berkeley and the author of numerous books on Russian history and European intellectual history.
Nicholas Valentine Riasanovsky (born Nicolai Valentinovitch Riasanovskiy) was born on 21 December 1923 in Harbin, China, the son of lawyer and legal scholar Valentin A. Riasanovsky and Antonina Riasanovsky, a teacher and novelist who wrote as Nina Fedorova. The family remained in China until 1938, then came to the United States. He graduated in history from the University of Oregon, then served in Army intelligence during World War II after training at [[Camp Ritchie]], Maryland ([[:Category:Class 10|Class 10]]); he later recalled participating in the Normandy landings and the Battle of the Bulge.


Nicolai Valentinovitch Riasanovskiy was born on 21 December 1923 in Harbin (then in the Republic of China), the son of lawyer Valentin A. Riasanovsky and Antonina Riasanovsky, a novelist. His father, Valentin, was a Russian professor, who had taught at Moscow University, Yaroslavl, Tomsk and Irkutsk and from 1922 to 1934 was teaching at Harbin Normal University (China). His mother, Antonia, was a teacher and novelist who wrote under the pen name Nina Fedorova. In 1938 the family moved to the United States of America, where his father taught at the University of Oregon, and his mother's work The Family, about the life of a Russian community in a Chinese city, received The Atlantic Monthly Prize for fiction in 1940. Nicholas Riasanovsky graduated from the University of Oregon in 1942. During World War II, he trained in Army intelligence at Camp Ritchie and he is considered one of the Ritchie Boys. He received a master's degree from Harvard University in 1947, and a DPhil. From St. John's College, Oxford in 1949 on a Rhodes Scholarship.
After the war he studied at Harvard under Michael Karpovich, then took a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford, receiving his D.Phil. In 1949. He taught at the University of Iowa before joining the University of California, Berkeley faculty in 1957, remaining until retirement in 1997. His textbook ''A History of Russia'' (first published 1963) became a standard undergraduate survey through the Cold War and beyond. Riasanovsky died on 14 May 2011 in Oakland, California.
 
From 1949 to 1957 Riasanovsky taught at the University of Iowa. During this time he published Russia in the West in the Teaching of the Slavophiles (1952), and spent a year in Finland as a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Helsinki (1954–1955).
 
From 1957 until his retirement in 1997 he taught at the University of California, Berkeley, and published Nicholas I and Official Nationality in Russia (1959) and his best-selling A History of Russia (1963). The latter was in its eighth edition in 2010 (now co-authored with Mark D. Steinberg, a former student of Riasanovsky's) and has been acclaimed for its continued comprehensiveness.
 
Riasanovsky died in Oakland, California, USA, on May 14, 2011, at the age of 87.


== Research notes ==
== Research notes ==
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== Gallery ==
== Gallery ==
''After you are autoconfirmed, [[Special:Upload|upload a photo]] and add <code><nowiki>[[File:Example.jpg|thumb|caption]]</nowiki></code> here, or set <code>|photo=Example.jpg</code> in the infobox.''
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Nicholas_V_Riasanovsky_39329056_later_portrait.webp|Later portrait of Nicholas V. Riasanovsky (obituary / RB Archive).
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== Technical record ==
== Technical record ==
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== Timeline ==
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* 21 December 1923 — Born in Harbin, China.
* 1938 — Family immigrates to the United States.
* University of Oregon history degree; Camp Ritchie Class 10; ETO service (Normandy, Bulge).
* 1949 — D.Phil., Oxford (Rhodes Scholar).
* 1957–1997 — Professor, UC Berkeley; ''A History of Russia'' (1963–).
* 14 May 2011 — Died in Oakland, California.
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== Sources ==
== Sources ==
* [https://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/29/world/europe/29riasanovsky.html New York Times — Nicholas V. Riasanovsky obituary (Paul Vitello)]
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_V._Riasanovsky Wikipedia: Nicholas V. Riasanovsky]
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_V._Riasanovsky Wikipedia: Nicholas V. Riasanovsky]
* Camp Ritchie Museum, Inc. (The Ritchie History Museum), Classes 1–31 roster data
* Camp Ritchie Museum, Inc. (The Ritchie History Museum), Classes 1–31 roster data
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