Aleksandr Herzen

Born in Moscow in 1812, Aleksandr Herzen became one of the most influential Russian writers and political thinkers of the 19th century. As a young man he studied at Moscow University, where his radical views brought him under government suspicion and eventually into exile within the Russian Empire.

Herzen later left Russia and spent much of his life in Western Europe, writing and publishing for readers back home. He is widely associated with early Russian socialism and with the idea that Russia might follow its own path of social change, rooted in the peasantry rather than simply copying Western models.

He is especially remembered for My Past and Thoughts, a sweeping autobiographical work admired for its honesty, intelligence, and vivid portraits of people and events. He died in Paris in 1870, but his mix of political passion, skepticism, and literary grace has kept his work alive far beyond his own century.