17 Facts About Paul Avrich

Paul Avrich was a historian of the 19th and early 20th century anarchist movement in Russia and the United States.

Paul Avrich taught at Queens College, City University of New York, for his entire career, from 1961 to his retirement as distinguished professor of history in 1999.

Paul Avrich wrote ten books, mostly about anarchism, including topics such as the 1886 Haymarket Riot, 1921 Sacco and Vanzetti case, 1921 Kronstadt naval base rebellion, and an oral history of the movement.

Paul Avrich was born August 4,1931, in Brooklyn to parents of Jewish and Ukrainian heritage from Odessa.

Paul Avrich's parents, Rose Avrich and Murray Avrich, were a Yiddish theater actress and a dress manufacturer, respectively.

Paul Avrich was among the first American exchange students to study in the Soviet Union when it opened during the Khrushchev Thaw.

Paul Avrich later named his cats after Mikhail Bakunin and Piotr Kropotkin.

Paul Avrich was married, and had two daughters and a sister.

Paul Avrich was a historian of the 19th and early 20th century anarchist movement in Russia and the United States.

Paul Avrich wrote ten books in his career, mostly about anarchism, including topics such as the 1886 Haymarket Riot, 1921 Sacco and Vanzetti case, 1921 Kronstadt Rebellion, and an oral history of the movement.

Paul Avrich wanted his work to resurrect the thought of marginalized anarchists, whom he saw as "pioneers of social justice" worth revisiting in the revival of libertarianism following the Vietnam War and second-wave feminism.

Paul Avrich joined Queens College as a Russian history instructor in 1961, where he remained for the duration of his career, though he was a member of the City University of New York Graduate Center faculty.

Paul Avrich received a Guggenheim Fellowship for Russian history in 1967 and a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship in 1972.

Paul Avrich collected books, photos, and papers from key anarchists and donated a 20,000-item collection to the Library of Congress.

Paul Avrich died on February 16,2006, in Manhattan's Mount Sinai Hospital from complications due to Alzheimer's disease.

Paul Avrich interviewed Soviet exiles in New York, where he first met members of the Freie Arbeiter Stimme.

Paul Avrich then moved to major figures in American anarchism, and published a book in 1980 on the Ferrer Schools inspired by Francisco Ferrer.