Moshe Lewin (1921–2010) was born in Poland and served in the Russian army during World War II. One of the most respected scholars in his field, he was a fellow in Russian studies at Columbia, Princeton, and the Kennan Institute in Washington, D.C., and a professor of history at the University of Pennsylvania. He was the author of many books, including The Gorbachev Phenomenon and The Making of the Soviet System (reissued by The New Press).