Maurice G. Hindus
Encyclopedia
Maurice Gerschon Hindus (February 27, 1891 - July 8, 1969), was a Russian-American writer, foreign correspondent, lecturer and authority on Soviet and Central European affairs.
. His father Jacob Hindus was a kulak
; his mother was Sarah Gendeliovitch, and they had eleven children. When his father died, the family was impoverished. In 1905, Hindus, his mother, and his siblings came to America and settled in New York City
. He worked as an errand boy while attending night classes, and eventually enrolled at Stuyvesant High School
. Yearning to return to a rural setting, Hindus answered an employment agency advertisement for a farm laborer in Upstate New York and, in the Spring of 1908, removed to North Brookfield in Madison County, New York
, where he worked a various farms over the next three years. He attended high school in North Brookfield for three years and, thereafter, wishing to pursue a course in agriculture, he applied to Cornell University, but was rejected for a lack of sufficient high school courses. However, he was accepted at Colgate University
, where he earned a degree in literature, with honors, in 1915. After engaging in part-time lecturing on Russia on the Chautauqua circuit in the American Midwest, he furthered his education with a year of graduate study at Harvard University
. During the Second World War, he spent three years in the Soviet Union as a war correspondent for the New York Herald Tribune
. He also wrote four novels, and travelled to Iran, Iraq, Egypt, and Palestine in 1947. In 1957 he married Frances McClernan. On July 8, 1969, Hindus died in New York City at the age of 78, after spending the previous weekend in his beloved North Brookfield.
Most of Hindus' writings are about Soviet life and current events. He visited his home country several times, staying three years during World War II
. After this time, he wrote Mother Russia (1943), an account of wartime conditions there. During the Cold War
Hindus was very critical of the Soviet government, though he always distinguished between the Kremlin
and the Russian people. He wrote Crisis in the Kremlin (1953) in response, painting the peasants in a sympathetic light. Hindus helped increase American understanding of the Soviet Union in the 1920s and 1930s and as an ally in World War II
.
Broken Earth (1926)
Humanity Uprooted (1929)
Red Bread (1931)
The Great Offensive (1933)
Moscow Skies (1936)
Green Worlds: An Informal Chronicle (1938)
Sons and Fathers (1940)
To Sing with the Angels (1941)
Hitler Cannot Conquer Russia (1941)
Russia Fights On (1942)
Russia and Japan (1942)
Mother Russia (1943)
The Cossacks - The Story of a Warrior People (1946)
In Search of a Future (1949)
Magda (1951)
Crisis in the Kremlin (1953)
House Without a Roof (1961)
The Kremlin's Human Dilemma (1967)
A Traveler in Two Worlds (1971)
Background
Maurice Hindus was born into one of four Jewish families in Bolshoye Bykovo, a village then part of the Russian Empire, in modern-day BelarusBelarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
. His father Jacob Hindus was a kulak
Kulak
Kulaks were a category of relatively affluent peasants in the later Russian Empire, Soviet Russia, and early Soviet Union...
; his mother was Sarah Gendeliovitch, and they had eleven children. When his father died, the family was impoverished. In 1905, Hindus, his mother, and his siblings came to America and settled in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. He worked as an errand boy while attending night classes, and eventually enrolled at Stuyvesant High School
Stuyvesant High School
Stuyvesant High School , commonly referred to as Stuy , is a New York City public high school that specializes in mathematics and science. The school opened in 1904 on Manhattan's East Side and moved to a new building in Battery Park City in 1992. Stuyvesant is noted for its strong academic...
. Yearning to return to a rural setting, Hindus answered an employment agency advertisement for a farm laborer in Upstate New York and, in the Spring of 1908, removed to North Brookfield in Madison County, New York
Madison County, New York
Madison County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2010 census, the population was 73,442. It is named after James Madison, fourth President of the United States of America...
, where he worked a various farms over the next three years. He attended high school in North Brookfield for three years and, thereafter, wishing to pursue a course in agriculture, he applied to Cornell University, but was rejected for a lack of sufficient high school courses. However, he was accepted at Colgate University
Colgate University
Colgate University is a private liberal arts college in Hamilton, New York, USA. The school was founded in 1819 as a Baptist seminary and later became non-denominational. It is named for the Colgate family who greatly contributed to the university's endowment in the 19th century.Colgate has 52...
, where he earned a degree in literature, with honors, in 1915. After engaging in part-time lecturing on Russia on the Chautauqua circuit in the American Midwest, he furthered his education with a year of graduate study at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
. During the Second World War, he spent three years in the Soviet Union as a war correspondent for the New York Herald Tribune
New York Herald Tribune
The New York Herald Tribune was a daily newspaper created in 1924 when the New York Tribune acquired the New York Herald.Other predecessors, which had earlier merged into the New York Tribune, included the original The New Yorker newsweekly , and the Whig Party's Log Cabin.The paper was home to...
. He also wrote four novels, and travelled to Iran, Iraq, Egypt, and Palestine in 1947. In 1957 he married Frances McClernan. On July 8, 1969, Hindus died in New York City at the age of 78, after spending the previous weekend in his beloved North Brookfield.
Russia and Writings
Maurice Hindus started as a freelance writer. His first book, The Russian Peasant and the Revolution was published in 1920. He spent several months in 1922 among Russian émigrés, and then wrote several articles about them for Century Magazine, whose editor asked him to go to Russia to study the farm life and system. Several books were written from that experience, including Humanity Uprooted (1929) and Red Bread (1931). At the time of his writing, Hindus was often criticized by other Soviet experts for not presenting an objective view of Soviet reality and being overly sympathetic or naive about the actual conditions of Soviet life in the 1920's and 30's.Most of Hindus' writings are about Soviet life and current events. He visited his home country several times, staying three years during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. After this time, he wrote Mother Russia (1943), an account of wartime conditions there. During the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
Hindus was very critical of the Soviet government, though he always distinguished between the Kremlin
Kremlin
A kremlin , same root as in kremen is a major fortified central complex found in historic Russian cities. This word is often used to refer to the best-known one, the Moscow Kremlin, or metonymically to the government that is based there...
and the Russian people. He wrote Crisis in the Kremlin (1953) in response, painting the peasants in a sympathetic light. Hindus helped increase American understanding of the Soviet Union in the 1920s and 1930s and as an ally in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
Books
The Russian Peasant and the Revolution (1920)Broken Earth (1926)
Humanity Uprooted (1929)
Red Bread (1931)
The Great Offensive (1933)
Moscow Skies (1936)
Green Worlds: An Informal Chronicle (1938)
Sons and Fathers (1940)
To Sing with the Angels (1941)
Hitler Cannot Conquer Russia (1941)
Russia Fights On (1942)
Russia and Japan (1942)
Mother Russia (1943)
The Cossacks - The Story of a Warrior People (1946)
In Search of a Future (1949)
Magda (1951)
Crisis in the Kremlin (1953)
House Without a Roof (1961)
The Kremlin's Human Dilemma (1967)
A Traveler in Two Worlds (1971)