Stephen F. Cohen (1938-2020) was a world-renowned historian of Soviet and post-Soviet history and politics who served as Professor Emeritus of Russian Studies at New York University and Professor Emeritus of Politics at Princeton University. Born in Indianapolis, Indiana on November 25, 1938, he grew up in Owensboro, Kentucky during the era of Jim Crow segregation. He first traveled to the Soviet Union in 1959 at the age of 19, an experience that profoundly shaped his intellectual trajectory and lifelong engagement with Russian history and politics. Cohen earned his PhD from Columbia University's Russia Institute in 1968 following studies at Indiana University under Robert Tucker and at the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom. He established his academic career at Princeton University where he taught for thirty years before bringing his expertise to New York University.
Cohen's landmark 1973 work "Bukharin and the Bolshevik Revolution: A Political Biography, 1888-1938" revolutionized scholarly understanding of Soviet history by presenting viable alternatives to Stalinism within early Bolshevik thought. This groundbreaking scholarship established him as a leading revisionist historian who challenged orthodox interpretations of Soviet political development. His subsequent 1985 book "Rethinking the Soviet Experience: Politics and History since 1917" expanded this framework to analyze the broader trajectory of Soviet history and politics. Cohen developed a unique relationship with Bukharin's widow, Anna Larina, to whom he provided an archival copy of Bukharin's final letter, demonstrating his deep engagement with primary sources and historical actors. His research consistently emphasized the possibility of different historical paths for the Soviet Union, making him a distinctive voice in Cold War-era scholarship.
As a prominent public intellectual, Cohen contributed regularly to The Nation and appeared on CBS, bringing scholarly insights on Soviet and Russian history to broader audiences while earning recognition as "the most controversial Russia expert in America." His teaching prowess attracted extraordinary student interest, with his Soviet history survey at NYU routinely enrolling more than 400 students per semester. Beyond academia, Cohen was a persistent advocate for détente and a vocal critic of what he viewed as misconceptions in American foreign policy toward Russia. He forged meaningful connections with a diverse array of Soviet and Russian figures including gulag survivors, dissidents, intellectuals, and reformers, enriching his scholarly perspective with firsthand knowledge. Stephen F. Cohen's legacy endures through his transformative scholarship that continues to shape contemporary understanding of Soviet history and US-Russia relations.
