Dr. James H Billington

James H. Billington has served since 1987 as the thirteenth Librarian of Congress of the United States. A Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, he taught modern history with a special focus on Russian culture at Harvard and Princeton Universities from 1957 to 1973. He was Director of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, DC, from 1973 to 1987. Dr. Billington is the author of the classic The Icon and the Ax: An Interpretive History of Russian Culture; Fire in the Minds of Men:...See more

James H. Billington has served since 1987 as the thirteenth Librarian of Congress of the United States. A Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, he taught modern history with a special focus on Russian culture at Harvard and Princeton Universities from 1957 to 1973. He was Director of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, DC, from 1973 to 1987. Dr. Billington is the author of the classic The Icon and the Ax: An Interpretive History of Russian Culture; Fire in the Minds of Men: Origins of the Revolutionary Faith; and Russia Transformed: Breakthrough to Hope, an eyewitness account of the failed Communist coup in 1991 and the emergence of Russia as a democratic nation. He is one of the world's leading experts on Russia and has been a policy advisor to presidents and congressmen as well as leaders in the academic, ecclesiastical, and private sectors. See less