Dr. Catherine Anne Merridale is a writer and historian with a special interest in Russian history. Currently, she is a freelance writer and senior research fellow at the Institute of Historical Research at the University of London.Merridale was Professor of Contemporary History at Queen Mary University of London until her retirement from full-time academia in 2014.Merridale's work has appeared in the London Review of Books, the New Statesman, The Independent, The Guardian, and the Literary Review. She has also contributed to BBC Radio. Her first book, "Moscow Politics and the Rise of Stalin: The Communist Party in the Capital, 1925-32," was published in 1990.