Once an early supporter of the Bolsheviks, the author became disillusioned after the 1917 revolution and wrote a series of critical articles, analyses on the Russian national character, a condemnation of Bolshevik methods and a vision of the future. This is a collection of those articles.

One of the most renowned Soviet writers of the twentieth century, Maxim Gorky was an early supporter of the Bolsheviks. He became disillusioned with the turn of events after the 1917 revolution, however, and wrote a series of critical articles for the magazine New Life that eventually caused the new Communist government to close down the publication. Untimely Thoughts is a collection of these articles. It is at once a brilliant analysis of the Russian national character, a condemnation of the Bolshevik methods of government, and a vision of a future in which respect for individual accomplishment replaces the tyranny of the tsars and the brutality of Russian peasant existence. A controversial book, it was not translated into English until 1968 and was not published in the Soviet Union until 1989. The English edition of Untimely Thoughts is now back in print with a new introduction and chronology by Mark D. Steinberg.