 Finkelstein completed his undergraduate studies at Binghamton University in New York in 1974 , after which he studied at the École Pratique des Hautes Études in Paris . A deep admirer of Paul Sweezy , he was an ardent Maoist and was devastated by the news of the trial of the Gang of Four , an event which " totally devastated " him , and led him to abandon Marxism – Leninism . 
