Career
He taught at the University of California at Berkeley from 1958 to 1991. In the official Berkeley obituary, Riasanovsky is quoted as saying of Malia: " outstanding and now very popular historian, occupying a leading position in the present international discussion of the collapse of the Soviet Union and what that collapse means historically and for the future. (He also was) a brilliant writer in Russian and European intellectual history." Malia also wrote a famous essay "To the Stalin Mausoleum" (1990) which he signed as Z. The essay was reprinted in Eastern Europe..Central Europe..Europe which was edited by Stephen R. Graubard.
His book is a good example of historiographic reflection.
In the eighth chapter Malia gives a complete and concise survey of debates about the French Revolution from the 19th century up to our time.