Martin Miller's scholarly career was largely spent in the History Department at Duke University, with research visits to Russia as well as invitations to teach and conduct research in Paris, Istanbul and at the Center for International Affairs at Columbia University. He has published studies on Peter Kropotkin, the 19th century origins of the Russian emigration in Western Europe, the impact of psychoanalysis in the Soviet Union, and a comparative analysis of the role of state terrorism. He has most recently published "Observers from Abroad: Western Documentary Photography in the Soviet Union, 1917-1991" (Routledge, 2025).