Sheila Fitzpatrick is Bernadotte E. Schmitt Distinguished Service Professor in Modern Russian History at the University of Chicago, specializing in Modern Russian and Soviet social, political, and cultural history. A past president of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies and the recipient of a Mellon Distinguished Achievement Award, her other publications include Everyday Stalinism , Tear off the Masks! Identity and Imposture in Twentieth-Century Russia and most recently On Stalin's Team: The Years of Living Dangerously in Soviet Politics.