The lecture halls are rarely empty at Northwestern University when Dr. Irwin Weil lectures. Well known across campus for his ability to draw large numbers of students to his courses on Russian culture and the evolution of the former Soviet countries, Irwin Weil's life work has been promoting cultural exchange and mutual understanding between the United States and the former Soviet Union.
Irwin Weil, the longest-serving member of American Councils' Board of Trustees, recently published his memoirs, From the Cincinnati Reds to the Moscow Reds, recounting a lifetime immersed in Slavic language and culture.
Irwin, who goes by Irv, grew up in a Jewish-American family in the music-nurturing city of Cincinnati, Ohio. Son of the owner of the famous American baseball team, the Cincinnati Reds, Irv's upbringing did not naturally lend itself or foreshadow his later affinity for Slavic culture and the relationships he would develop with cultural Soviet icons such as novelist Vladimir Nabokov, poet Korney Chukovsky, and composer and pianist Dmitrii Shostakovich.
Irv says his collection of memoirs comes from a lifetime commitment to researching and studying Russian and Soviet culture, and includes stories spanning from: "the banks of the Ohio River, the brawling shoulders of Chicago, the mangled vowels of New York, the contrasting ideologies of Moscow, and the sprawling palaces of St. Petersburg."
Gary Saul Morson, Frances Hooper Professor of the Arts and Humanities at Northwestern University, said about the memoirs: "Irwin Weil has written a vibrant, nostalgic, strikingly sweet account of a life deeply enmeshed in Jewish, American, and above all Russian culture. Anecdote after heartfelt anecdote, he offers portraits of exemplary incidents and famous people, from Renato Poggiolo and Philip Rahv to Kornei Chukovsky and Dmitri Shostakovich."
Credited with over 100 visits to the former Soviet Union, Irv considers himself as half-Russian and hopes that readers will come away with a better understanding of Russia and the countries that comprised the former Soviet Union.
Purchase From the Cincinnati Reds to the Moscow Reds: The Memoirs of Irwin Weil.