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This is a comprehensive interpretive history of Russia from the defeat of Napoleon to the eve of World War I. It is the first such work by a post-Soviet Russian scholar to appear in English. Drawing on the latest Russian and Western historical scholarship, Alexander Polunov examines the decay of the two central institutions of tsarist Russia: serfdom and autocracy. Polunov explains how the major social groups - the gentry, merchants, petty townspeople, peasants, and ethnic minorities - reacted to the Great Reforms, and why, despite the emergence of a civil society and capitalist institutions, a reformist, evolutionary path did not become an alternative to the Revolution of 1917. He provides detailed portraits of many tsarist bureaucrats and political reformers, complete with quotations from their writings, to explain how the principle of autocracy, although significantly weakened by the Great Reforms in mid-century, reasserted itself under the last two emperors.Polunov stresses the relevance, for Russians in the post-Soviet period, of issues that remained unresolved in the pre-Revolutionary period, such as the question of private property in land and the relationship between state regulation and private initiative in the economy. ... Read more

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For the first time since the break up of the USSR, and with the help of 21 leading historians of Russian philosophy from Moscow State University including M N Gromov, Z A Kamensky, M A Maslin, B G Safronov, and V V Serbinenko, Valery A Kuvakin presents a comprehensive two-volume work capturing the rich philosophical heritage of this diverse culture. These scholars discuss its interpretation of the universe, the essence of history and human existence, the ideals of knowledge and a decent life, the destiny of Russia, and the life of the world community from the 10th century through the early 20th century. These discussions are augmented with selected excerpts from original works, which served as examples of the main schools of thought. ... Read more

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Good resource, but small
This book was a helpful resource for Russian Fashion.I was surprised that the book was so small, which made it difficult to see the details in the clothing. ... Read more

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The renowned Russian writer Leo Tolstoy created a realistic masterpiece in Anna Karenina (1878). In the same work, moreover, he utilized allegory and symbol to an extent and at a level of sophistication unknown in his other works. In Browning's study, the author identifies and analyzes previously unnoticed or only briefly mentioned ''linkages and keystones'' found in two highly developed clusters of symbols, arising from Anna's momentous train ride and peasant nightmares, and of allegories, rooted in Vronsky's disastrous steeplechase. Within this labyrinth of symbol, allegory and structural patterning lies embedded much of the novel s most significant meaning. This study will be of particular interest to students and scholars of Russian literature, Tolstoy, symbol, allegory, structuralism, and moral criticism. ... Read more

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Russian Trading In Alaska & North Pacific
The company was chartered by the Russian government in 1799 to conduct monopoly trading in the Aleutians & Alaska and played a major role in the affairs of the North Pacific. The original Russian text of this classic work was written, at the Company behest, a few years before the sale of Alaska to the U.S. in the hope of winning a renewal of the monopoly charter. This history is based on documents then in Company archives & has survived as the only source of many facts about Russian actives in the North Pacific, including Alaska, California & eve the Hawaiian Islands. ... Read more

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Francis Maes's comprehensive and imaginative book introduces the general public to the scholarly debate that has revolutionized Russian music history over the past two decades. Based on the most recent critical literature, A History of Russian Music summarizes the new view of Russian music and provides a solid overview of the relationships between artistic movements and political ideas.
The revision of Russian music history may count as one of the most significant achievements of recent musicology. The Western view used to be largely based on the ideas of Vladimir Stasov, a friend and confidant of leading nineteenth-century Russian composers who was more a propagandist than a historian. With the deconstruction of Stasov's interpretation, stereotyped views have been replaced by a fuller understanding of the conditions and the context in which composers such as Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky, and Stravinsky created their oeuvres. Even the more recent history of Soviet music, in particular the achievement of Dmitry Shostakovich, is being assessed on new documentary grounds.
A more complex conception of Russian music develops as Maes explores the cultural and historical milieu from which great works have emerged. Questioning and re-examining traditional views, the author considers the personal development of composers, the relationship of art to social and political ideals in Russia, and the ideologies behind musical research. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Pristine
The two copies I ordered arrived promptly and in pristine shape. The price was right,
the service impeccable. Bravo to both Amazon and the bookseller!
The book is a revelation: thorough, insightful, provocative and accurate. I recommend it as
a must for anyone interested in Russian classical music.

Non-technical; Perhapsuseful to a dilettante
"A History of Russian Music," by Francis Maes, could have been better titled: "Music's Place in the History of Russia and the Soviet Union."Though there are some basic definitions given (scattered on pages throughout), there is not one musical example of any of the folk song types listed.For example, no one will, after reading this book alone, understand what a "protyazhyana" is, other than a "drawn-out song."One could say the same about any of Kenny G's music.Analysis of the music is limited.The author obviously assumes the reader has no knowledge of music theory.For example, in a particularly pedantic passage, he acknowledges that his explanation of the octatonic scale "sounds complicated."If you are interested in "play by play" examination of opera plots, etc., then this is the book for you.For an actual understanding of Russian musical style, there are better sources.This book appeared to be a dumbed-down version of Richard Taruskin's scholarship -one will note Taruskin is the most cited author in the book.All in all, not bad for the musical novice, and a great look at how music fit in with the history of Russia and the Soviet Union, but lacks clarity and detail in its definitions, and is without the technical analysis required for scholarly research.More frustrating than helpful.Great cover art though.

Used for Russian Music class
This book was required for my Russian Music History class, and so to save money, I bought it off Amazon. However, the great thing about this being our textbook is that it reads like a novel.It's very descriptive, gives all the information you might need on any particular major Russian composer, along with a lot of interesting background insight that helps the understanding of the music and composers even more. The history of Russia at the time of the composers is also included withinand so this really is a great all around Russian Music History book. I'd recommend it to anyone needing information the topic. ... Read more

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In February 1917, the centuries-old and immense empire of the Czars, ally of the US and Britain during World War I, suddenly collapses. Eight months later, the revolutionaries, under Lenin's leadership, take power and sign an armistice with Germany.

Few would have bet on this government of inexperienced militants, against a force of armed counter-revolutionaries sustained by the West. But the mobilization of the population, the power of the Red Army and political police, the experience the communists gain during the war, and Lenin's skill in directing the new political economy, allow the Bolsheviks to strengthen their hold on the great empire.

By the time of Lenin's death, on January 21, 1924, the door has been opened to many decades of Communist power, though as Stalin gains prominence, that power will become much different than that of the heroes of the October Revolution. ... Read more

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A fascinating, meticulous history
The newest addition to the outstanding "Interlink Illustrated Histories" series, Lenin And The Russian Revolution by historian and academician Antonella Salomoni features over 100 archive photographs, maps, and illustrations, in both black-and-white and color. The text chronicles the events following the collapse of the centuries-old empire of the Czars, the triumph of the Bolshevik revolutionaries, and the opponents that the new regime battled as it strived to hold on to power. A fascinating, meticulous history, as accessible to lay readers as is to hisotrians, and highly recommended for world history collections and reference shelves.
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Making use of the formerly secret archives of the Soviet government, Nathaniel Davis describes how the Russian Orthodox Church hung on the brink of institutional extinction twice in the past sixty-five years. In 1939, only a few score widely scattered priests were still functioning openly. Ironically, Hitler's invasion and Stalin's reaction to it rescued the church -- and parishes reopened, new clergy and bishops were consecrated, a patriarch was elected, and seminaries and convents were reinstituted. However, after Stalin's death, Khrushchev resumed the onslaught against religion. Davis reveals that the erosion of church strength between 1948 and 1988 was greater than previously known and it was none too soon when the Soviet government changed policy in anticipation of the millennium of Russia's conversion to Christianity. More recently, the collapse of communism has created a mixture of dizzying opportunity and daunting trouble for Russian Orthodoxy. The newly revised and updated edition addresses the tumultuous events of recent years, including schisms in Ukraine, Estonia, and Moldova, and confrontations between church traditionalists, conservatives and reformers. The author also covers battles against Greek-Catholics, Roman Catholics, Protestant evangelists, and pagans in the south and east, the canonization of the last Czar, the church's financial crisis, and hard data on the slowing Russian orthodox recovery and growth. Institutional rebuilding and moral leadership now beckon between promise and possibility. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Detailed and fascinating
If you're interested in what's going on in the church in Russia today, Davis provides both the background and the contemporary perspective. Thoroughly annotated with 100 pages of end notes, this book combines statistical analysis of the church's fluctuating fortunes with reports from Communist and other annals and Davis' own observations from visits to hundreds of churches.

Its academic approach, while thorough, makes it less accessible to the casual reader interested in the subject, which is why I gave it only 3 stars. I'd like to see Davis return to this subject with a book aimed at the general reader. Based on my visits to 4 Moscow churches within walking distance of each other and to a couple of Old Believers churches, I think there's a story waiting to be told of the variety of approaches to Orthodox belief and practice that are active in Russia today.

Wonderful!
This book will open your eyes to what the real issues were, when and where for the Russian Orthodox Church in the 20th century. Davis is relatively sympathetic to the ROC, but he doesn't hold any punches when there IS a criticism to be made. Davis spends quite a bit of time crunching numbers, but he also takes the time for anecdotal descriptions, too. This is very readable and insightful! Side note: He seems a little naive and starry-eyed about Gorbachev's support for the Church, but that might just be my reading too much into it. ... Read more

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Although new histories of Russia, often reflecting the author's cultural slant, appear regularly, there is a dearth of books that explain the Russian perspective. This work takes the opposite approach by acquainting readers with some of the foremost ideas in Russian cultural history. This outline of Russian thought and culture necessarily begins with the geographic setting because it fostered certain tendencies. The narrative then proceeds to explain the spiritual foundation and cultural orientation that established a system of values and set the direction for future developments. For example, it was the split in the Christian world between the Roman West and the Greek East in 1054 that instituted the 'us' and 'them' divide, and which effectively separated Russia from Europe. The divergence became greater in the 1200s when Russia came under Mongol suzerainty and for more than two centuries it was the westernmost province of an Asian empire.At the same time, while feudalism in Western Europe contributed to social and political fragmentation, feudalism in Russia contributed to centralization of authority and the establishment of tsarism, wherein everyone, from the lowly swineherd to the high nobleman, became a servant of the state. By the turn of the nineteenth century, most of the intelligentsia seemed to expect a revolution, and this atmosphere benefited the Machiavellian Bolshevik leaders who wrested control over the intelligentsia, and then foisted on the people social and economic theories of Karl Marx. At the same time, the Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin established the mechanism for a brutal and doctrinaire government. Stalin succeeded Lenin, and although in many respects he acted more as a traditional guardian of state interests than of Marxist orthodoxy, the Soviet regime's political and economic isolation exacerbated the material and spiritual wellbeing of the people to such an extent that in December 1991 the Soviet Union simply, and unexpectedly, dissolved. Significantly, in April 2005, when President Vladimir Putin addressed the State Duma, i.e. the Russian parliament, he described the dissolution of the Soviet Union as the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the twentieth century.Not surprisingly, a sizeable majority of Russians agreed. Russia and much of the geopolitical space around it share a common history and system of values, and their current and future relations depend as much on global issues as on those subtle qualities of thought and culture that have shaped their particular worldview. ... Read more

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Appreciate Russia Anew
This book (an updated edition of the author's "Riddle, Mystery, Enigma" c2007) describes how Russian thought and culture has developed over the last 1,100 years, and goes below the surface, layer by layer, to reveal the core values and character of the people of this vast land. It is a "must read" for people who distrust Russia, or find the actions of past and present governments incomprehensible. You will come to understand and appreciate the context of events. It's also a "must read" for anyone who loves Russian literature, art or music; so much is explained! ... Read more

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Slavic Nostalgia and American Striving
It was disconcerting reading Russian Blood, A Family Chronicle.The story of the author's antecedents' lives in pre-Revolutionary Russiawas, indeed, evocative of a lost time and place, but one could not help realizing that the period in which this book was written, researched, and published occurred prior to its 1982 date of publication.The young man who so well detailed, in particular, his paternal and maternal grandmothers' travails in escaping Bolshevik revenge in order to forge new lives in the United States has passed well into middle age (haven't we all?); the system that destroyed the way of life he chronicled has, too,passed onto the junk heap of history.True to the Russian nature of exuberance and generosity, one is served up more than an ample banquet of family history and reflection here (as well as maybe too much if a reader does not share the writer's (and his father's and uncle's))family passion for butterflies and geology or what seems like an inherent need to establish high social pedigree vis-à-vis the old East Coast set. One matter of confusion:at some point this reader began to wonder to what extent certain branches of the Shoumatoff family were Ukrainian rather than Russian. This matter might have been amplified. That being said, it is too bad that Shoumatoff has not given us, in the intervening years, the memoir of his own life.When he touches on the truly personal,he leaves the reader wanting more.What was it like for him to grow up and establish his own American identity?What does he see for Russia now?A publisher would do well to ask him to undertake a personal story with himself as sole focus, or a travel edition in which he can "rediscover" Russia for us in this new century. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (1)

An eye-opener
This book is a middle school history book. As such, it's simplistic and abridged, just as our own middle school history books are. That said, I learned a great deal about World War II I never knew before, and even more about how the actions of the US played to non American people. I only read one thing in this book I considered and out and out lie (the Soviets were in fact "Liberating" those Polish people they attacked). I did read a lot of history interpurted differently than I had been taught, in ways not so flattering to my country, and not necessarily incorrectly (Did we delay invasion of Europe to weaken the Soviet Union? I can't swear that isn't true). Also oddly enough, the book makes a great distinction between the actions of the US government and the morals of it's people, perhaps they do overestimate the "Noble workers yearning to be free as their Soviet brothers" a bit, but it seems to give the people the benifit of the doubt. All in all, a very interesting read. ... Read more