Timasheff "came from an old family of Russian nobility"; his father was Minister of Trade and Industry under Nicholas II.
At the latter university he met the Polish-Russian jurist Leon Petrazycki, who was a significant influence on him throughout his life.
[3] Timasheff was the author of various works, including The Great Retreat: The Growth and Decline of Communism in Russia (New York, 1946), in which he argued that the Bolsheviks made a conscious retreat from socialist values during the 1930s, instead returning to traditional ones like patriotism and the family.
Historian Terry Martin considers this a misnomer, because "in the political and economic spheres, the period after 1933 marked a consolidation, rather than a repudiation, of the most important goals of Stalin's socialist offensive: forced industrialization, collectivization, nationalization, abolition of the market, political dictatorship.
"[4] Buried: Oakland Cemetery (Yonkers, New York) Westchester County, USA.