Since 1993, the Summer Author Series has brought award-winning biographers to The Mount. This year’s Series explores lives and ideas that have challenged convention. From unsung heroes to innovators, these talks invite us to reflect on how acts of courage—large and small—have challenged assumptions and expanded our collective imagination.
A NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST
In Motherland, acclaimed journalist Julia Ioffe tells the story of modern Russia through the lives of its women. Blending memoir, reportage, and history, Ioffe traces Russia’s turbulent journey—from revolution to utopia to autocracy—through the interwoven biographies of feminist revolutionaries, political wives, Soviet women soldiers, and contemporary dissidents. With clarity, urgency, and empathy, she reveals how one of the twentieth century’s most audacious social experiments that promised women liberation, failed them profoundly, giving shape to the Russia of today.
This program will include a moderated conversation with Julie A. Cassiday, Willcox B. and Harriet M. Adsit Professor of Russian at Williams College and author of Russian Style: Performing Gender, Power, and Putinism (2023).
The Mount wishes to thank Barbara J. Cooperman for supporting this program.
IMPORTANT EVENT INFORMATION:
- This one-hour talk takes place in The Mount’s Event Tent, an open-air, 400-seat tent adjacent to the parking lot. Please be mindful of the weather and plan accordingly.
- In the event of extreme weather, such as excessive heat or severe thunderstorms, this program may be moved indoors to The Mount’s Stable Auditorium, which has a limited capacity. All ticket holders will be notified by email at least two hours before the scheduled start time if a venue change is necessary. General admission tickets are valid for outdoor events only. If the program is moved indoors, General Admission tickets will be automatically canceled, and a full refund will be issued.
- If you have concerns about the weather, we recommend selecting the Rain or Shine Ticket option (a $5 add-on) at the time of purchase. Rain or Shine Tickets guarantee admission, whether the program takes place outdoors or is moved indoors.
- Seating for all programs at The Mount is first-come, first-served. If you have seating preferences, we recommend arriving fifteen minutes early.
- Accessible seating is available. To discuss arrangements, please contact us by phone: 413-551-5111 x5; or email: programs@edithwharton.org. For more information about accessibility, review The Mount’s accessibility webpage.
- A book signing will follow this talk. Books can be purchased at the event from The Mount Gift & Bookstore or in advance via Bookshop.org
- Questions? Email: programs@edithwharton.org; or phone: 413-551-5111 x2
Julia Ioffe is a Russian-born American journalist. Her articles have appeared in the Washington Post, the New York Times, the New Yorker, Foreign Policy, Forbes, Bloomberg Businessweek, The New Republic, Politico, and the Atlantic. Ioffe has appeared on television programs on MSNBC, CBS, PBS, and other news channels as a Russia expert. She is a founding partner and Washington correspondent at Puck. A National Book Award Finalist, Motherland was published in October 2025. Photo: Max Avdeev
Julie A. Cassiday has taught Russian language, literature, and culture, as well as Comparative Literature and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, at Williams College for over thirty years. Her research focuses on performance, in the broadest sense of this word, in Russian and Soviet culture, and she has published articles on topics ranging from early nineteenth-century Russian drama to Stalinist film, the cult of personality surrounding Vladimir Putin, and the Eurovision Song Contest. She has published two monographs: The Enemy on Trial: Early Soviet Courts on Stage and Screen (2000) and Russian Style: Performing Gender, Power, and Putinism (2023).
