Dmitri N. Shalin is professor of sociology and director of the Center for Democratic Culture at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He is the author of numerous articles and the editor of several volumes including, The Social Health of Nevada: Leading Social Indicators and Quality of Life in the Silver State, Russian Culture at the Crossroads: Paradoxes of Postcommunist Consciousness, and Bios Sociologicus: The Erving Goffman Archives.