Curated playlist
19th-century philosophers from the Russian Empire
- Fyodor DostoevskyFyodor Dostoevsky stood before a firing squad in 1849, and a letter from the tsar arrived.
- Leo TolstoyLeo Tolstoy spent his last hours on a train, preaching non-violence to strangers.
- Helena BlavatskyA 1885 report accused Helena Blavatsky of faking paranormal phenomena. It was retracted in 1986.
- Vladimir LeninLenin's name came from no person, and the N in N. Lenin stood for nothing. One theory points to the Lena River.
- Nicholas RoerichPainter Nicholas Roerich was held in Tibet for five months while the world thought he was lost.
- Mikhail BakuninKarl Marx had the anarchist Mikhail Bakunin expelled from the First International in 1872.
- Peter KropotkinAnarchist thinker Peter Kropotkin refused a cabinet seat in Russia's Provisional Government.
- Vasily RozanovVasily Rozanov, a Russian philosopher, died of starvation in a monastery after the Revolution.
- Alexander HerzenFor three years, Alexander Herzen's Russian press in London did not sell a single copy.
- Lev ShestovLev Shestov's dissertation was rejected, which blocked him from becoming a doctor of law.
- Vladimir Solovyov (philosopher)Philosopher Vladimir Solovyov, a famous historian's son, died homeless and poor. He sought to reunite divided faiths.