SILVER SPRING, Md., September 7, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- In a new book, "Discovering Russia: 200 Years of American Journalism," (now available through AuthorHouse), Murray Seeger, a veteran journalist and former Moscow bureau chief, explores the question,"How did Americans form their opinions about Russia and the Soviet Union?" The book examines the work of journalists, adventurers, and diplomats who wrote about Russia from the end of the 18th century until the end of the 20th century.
"Each generation of observers seemed to find its own version of the character and importance of the gigantic empire that Winston Churchill unforgettably called a 'riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma,'" Seeger said.
The author examines the work of forgotten 19th-century journalists like J.A. MacGahane, Harold Frederic, and George Kennan and analyzes the personalities and work of better-known figures as John Reed and his cohorts who reported the Revolution, and later correspondents including Henry Shapiro, Eugene Lyons, Edmund Stevens, Anna Louise Strong, Walter Duranty, Harrison Salisbury, Hedrick Smith, and David Remnick.
In addition, Seeger describes his personal experiences as a Moscow correspondent during the era of political dissidence, the Jewish emigration movement, and the appearance on the international scene of Alexander Solzhenitsyn and Andrei Sakharov, and his later work in the country until 2003.
Seeger presents an intriguing, adventurous, and sometimes humorous story of journalists overcoming massive obstacles to deliver news. The correspondents included sycophants, skeptics, romantics, one confirmed spy, and a hidden Communist. They were often misled and wrong, but ultimately, produced consistent, true reporting that enabled Americans to form valid opinions about America's greatest rival in world affairs.
This is a book that will appeal to journalists, journalism students, and anyone interested in the history of U.S.-Russian relations.
"Relations between Russia and the United States waxed and waned over the decades; periods of optimism were followed by years of tension and fear," Seeger writes. "Critical reporting by many journalists prepared Americans for the ultimate collapse of communism, although it came sooner than any expected."
Seeger is a native of Western New York State and a graduate of the University of Iowa. He was a Nieman Fellow in Journalism at Harvard University. He reported for the Buffalo News, Cleveland Plain Dealer, and New York Times before joining the Newsweek Washington Bureau. He worked in Washington for the Los Angeles Times and was bureau chief for that paper in Moscow, Bonn, and Brussels. He and his wife Palma live in Silver Spring, Md.
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