About the book: 2017 / Modern readers can still hear the echo of heated debates that almost two centuries ago outstanding Russian thinkers, publicists, and literary critics waged among themselves about fate Russia and its historical path, about the complex interweaving of cultural, social, political and religious aspects that have shaped the incredibly rich and contradictory image of the country. The books in the series “Crossroads of Russian Thought with Andrei Tesla” attempt to shift the key characters of the intellectual life of Russia in the 19th century from their “homesteads” in the history of Russian philosophy and create the most accurate and comprehensive picture of the era. Alexander Ivanovich Herzen is one of the few great Russian intellectuals of the 19th century century, well known not only in Russia, but also in the world, one whose intellectual heritage in direct or, now much more often, indirect form can still be traced. In the “dispute between Westerners and Slavophiles”, Herzen had the opportunity to participate successively from very different positions - from a doubter and trying to understand the arguments of the parties to an ardent defender of the “Westernization” position, through the split in “Westernism” to disappointment in the “West” and the creation of his own, deeply original position , within the framework of which he synthesized many of the provisions of the once opposing parties. We present to the reader's attention a collection of Herzen's key works in a unique composition and with an introductory article by the leading specialist and historian of Russian philosophy Andrei Aleksandrovich Tesli.