The American Soviet historian who mapped the three schools of Leningrad Affair historiography
In his 2004 article, Brandenberger argued that rumors of a 'Russian Communist Party' were a decisive factor behind the Leningrad Affair, adding an ideological dimension to interpretations that saw it as purely political factional struggle.
Professor of Russian and Soviet history at the University of Richmond. His research examines Stalin-era propaganda, ideology, and the formation of Russian national identity, beginning with National Bolshevism (2002), which argued that Stalin's russocentric mobilizational propaganda unintentionally forged a modern Russian national identity. His in-progress book, The Purge of Stalin's Would-Be Successors, draws on over twenty years of research into the Leningrad Affair (1949–1952), mapping three schools of historiography (factional struggle, Stalin's distrust of Leningrad, and self-provocation through patron-client networks) while arguing that the archives remain too closed for a definitive account.
Career Timeline
- 1992B.A., History and Soviet Area Studies, Macalester College
- 1999Ph.D., History, Harvard University
- 1999–2003Lecturer in history, Harvard, Yale, and Connecticut College
- 2003–현재Professor of History, University of Richmond (full professor 2016)
- 2002National Bolshevism published (Harvard University Press)
- 2011Propaganda State in Crisis published (Yale University Press)
- 2019–현재Affiliated researcher, HSE University, Moscow