This erudite, expansive book undertakes a study of convergences–as distinct from comparisons– between the aesthetic manifestations and political implications of Russian and Japanese philosophies of space. . . . Aesthetics and Politics of Space is a generative example of recent scholarship engaged in repositioning both Russian and East Asian studies in a dynamic inter-Asian field of comparison or "convergence," to use Botz-Bornstein's own term.

Slavic and East European Journal

An intellectual tour-de-force, Aesthetics and Politics of Space in Russia and Japan succeeds admirably on several fronts, including its presentation of the first sustained comparison of philosophies from Japan and Russia and the introduction of Botz-Bornstein's original concept of "convergence" as a convincing countermeasure to the facile critiques that modern scholars have often leveled against the alleged "totalitarianism" of major Japanese and Russian thinkers. This is a work of philosophy as well as on philosophy-a rare combination that makes this book required reading for anyone who cannot afford to ignore the world in which s/he lives.

- Michael F. Marra, University of California, Los Angeles,