Book: VIXI by Richard Pipes

Pipes, Richard. 2003. VIXI. Yale University Press.

I read Pipe's book "Survival is Not Enough" back in college. That book reinforced my own views on the Soviet Union, which were based in part on an in-person visit in 1979 as part of a broader European tour with a student group. Since then, I have purchased several of his books used, though this, his memoir, is the first I have managed to read.

His life divides rather neatly into a sequence of parts: growing up in Poland as a Jew, escape from Poland just in time, education in the United States, life as a Harvard professor, his time on the National Security Council during the Reagan administration, a somewhat different life (due to his higher public profile) back at Harvard after that, and then retirement. As with many academics, retirement for Pipes just means more time for research and less time spent on teaching and administration (there is a reason for the quip "I need to retire to get some work done" that one hears among economists).

I found the initial part about growing up in Poland in the 1920s and 1930s and then leaving (with a fair amount of uncertainty of success) for the United States and the part about his time in the Reagan administration the most interesting, perhaps because being a history professor is a lot like being an economics professor and I already know how that goes. The Poland and DC components read quite differently: the former basks in the glow of a gentle nostalgia, the latter bluntly settles a lot of scores. Pipes argues that he had real effects on policy and thereby helped speed the demise of the Soviet Union, surely a worthy life contribution for anyone.

I enjoyed the book a great deal, both as academic memoir and as history. Recommended.

I found this at some used bookstore somewhere, and not that long ago, but do not recall which one.