Imperial Russia: New Histories for the Empire

Indiana-Michigan Series in Russian and East European Studies

by Jane Burbank (Editor), David L. Ransel (Editor)

"On the basis of the work presented here, one can say that the future of American scholarship on imperial Russia is in good hands." ―American Historial Review

" . . . innovative and substantive research . . . " ―The Russian Review

"Anyone wishing to understand the 'state of the field' in Imperial Russian history would do well to start with this collection." ―Theodore W. Weeks, H-Net Reviews

"The essays are impressive in terms of research conceptualization, and analysis." ―Slavic Review

Presenting the results of new research and fresh approaches, the historians whose work is highlighted here seek to extend new thinking about the way imperial Russian history is studied and taught. Populating their essays are a varied lot of ordinary Russians of the 18th and 19th centuries, from a luxury-loving merchant and his extended family to reform-minded clerics and soldiers on the frontier. In contrast to much of traditional historical writing on Imperial Russia, which focused heavily on the causes of its demise, the contributors to this volume investigate the people and institutions that kept Imperial Russia functioning over a long period of time.

Genres: Russia, History

384 pages, Paperback

First published September 22, 1998

Reviews

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like many books I read in grad school, I mainly gave this a thorough skimming in order to be able to discuss it intelligently in seminar, then moved on quickly to the next book and forgot about it. I can't say that much about it really stands out, however many years later, although it is a useful survey of post-Glasnost rethinking of pre-Revolutionary Russian history. The essays were written during the nineties, and had been presented at one of two major conferences prior to being re-worked for the book, so they do represent solid scholarship of the period. The editors state in the introduction that the volume is intended to demonstrate revisions to Imperial history which do not simply analyze the Empire through the lens of "scholarly autopsies," performed to determine why the patient died, rather than to understand its life.

In that sense, it seems to me that these essays are promising, but not really as significant as one would hope. Several focus on relatively minor issues with very limited source bases (Kevin Tyner Thomas's piece, "Collecting for the Fatherland" stands out in its mediocrity), others on historians of the past and their understanding of their times. The bolder pieces, such as Wortman's essay on the Imperial family as a symbol and Hoch's on the serf economy remain somewhat tentative in their conclusions. The one I'd most like to go back and re-read, given the time, is Douglas Smith's on Freemasonry and the public.

In all, I'd rate this a fair collection, probably worth the time of specialists or those preparing for exams on Imperial Russia, but not necessarily broadly appealing or useful.

[Albert Meier · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting collection of essays on very specific aspects of Russian history. It was as much about how history is developed and reported as it is about Russia. The unifying premise is that with the fall of the Soviet Union there is more access to records and less need for the previous ideological battles over the history of Imperial Russia. This volume sought to ask the questions that future historians might research and answer.