Fyodor Dostoevsky by Peter Leithart


A tepid introduction to Dostoevsky

Published in 2011 by Thomas Nelson.

I freely admit to knowing only the barest of details about Fyodor Dostoevsky before starting this book. I was aware of the arguments of some of his works and am familiar with the broad strokes Tsarist Russian politics before the Revolution.

I picked up this book after becoming intrigued with some of Dostoevsky's ideas while reading a book by A Point in Time by David Horowitz. Horowitz quotes extensively from Dostoevsky and talks about his thoughts about evil in the world, God's place in the world, if there is one. Sadly, I learned more about Dostoevsky's philosophy from Horowitz than I did from this slender biography dedicated to the man.

Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821-1881)
Don't get me wrong, this is a solid little book to learn about the details of his personal life, but it suffers from the lack of in-depth discussion about his ideas and the use of reconstructed conversations throughout that really makes it much more like a piece of well-researched historical fiction than like a true biography.

I received a copy of this book at no cost from Thomas Nelson publishers in exchange for an honest review of the work.

I rate this biography 3 stars out of 5.

Reviewed on October 8, 2011.

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