A versatile and energetic person, Pogodin was a prominent historian and paleologist, journalist, translator, and writer. In historiography he is best remembered for studies in the early Russian period, publication of primary sources, and an impressive collection of Russian antiquities. His journalistic ventures include editing Moskovskii vestnik (Moscow Herald) from 1827-1830 and Moskvitianin (The Muscovite) from 1841-1856, the former representing a link between Obshchestvo liubomudriia (The Society of the Lovers of Wisdom) and the nascent Slavophilism, the latter being the leading publication directed against Westernizers. A proponent of Russian exceptionalism, Pogodin was among main contributors to the doctrine of Official Nationality. He was also one of the founding fathers of Pan-Slavism. His literary fiction (a dozen prose tales and several historical tragedies) is less notable, although it is of significance within the context of Russian literature of the 1820s and 1830s. A friend of many luminaries--including Aleksandr Sergeevich...