Maps The Expansion of Muscovy in the 16th and 17th Centuries The Expansion of the Russian Empire in the 18th Century Russian Expansion under Catherine the Great Russia at its Greatest Extent Acknowledgements Introduction The Russian Empire: How and Why State-Building The First Crises of Empire The Secular State of Peter the Great Assimilating Peter's Heritage The Apogee of the Secular State Social Classes, Religion and Culture in Imperial Russia The Nobility The Army The Peasantry The Orthodox Church Towns and the Missing Bourgeoisie The Birth of the Intelligentsia Literature as 'Nation-Builder' Imperial Russia under Pressure The Reforms of Alexander II Russian Socialism Russification The Revolution of 1905-7 The Duma Monarchy Conclusions Afterthoughts on the Soviet Experience Chronology Notes Index
Geoffrey Hosking has written a wonderfully suggestive and innovative Russian history that deserves to be widely read. He masterfully interweaves the latest scholarship in social history with an imaginative rereading of intellectual, institutional, and political history. -- Mark von Hagen, author of Soldiers of the Proletariat Dictatorship A sweeping overview of Russian history written by a master of the subject. It is rich in details, sources, and ideas about Russian political, historical, and cultural development. It is an impressive work that will be useful to students of Russian history, culture, religion, as well as politics. -- Nicolai N. Petro, author of The Rebirth of Russian Democracy
Geoffrey Hosking is Emeritus Professor of Russian History at University College London.
The loss of empire has left many Russians bewildered because their
view of themselves as a nation had been intimately connected with
their self-image as a great imperial power. It has revealed how
weakly developed is the Russians' sense of national identity. Mr.
Hosking attributes that weakness to imperialism overwhelming
nationhood in Russia's history...The problem Mr. Hosking raises is
not new, but he is the first to explore it in depth.
*New York Times Book Review*
Russia: People and Empire is the most interesting and authoritative
account of Russian imperial history in English. It is a masterful
synthesis, intelligent and lucid, passionately argumentative but
always fair, which everyone should read who wants to understand the
origins of Russia's predicament today.
*Times*
The publication of this book... invites us to do nothing less than
rethink Russian history. In a sweeping yet meticulously argued
reinterpretation of the past five centuries, Hosking shows the ways
in which the Russian state's policy of empire-building has impeded
the creation of a Russian nation, leaving today's Russians
uncertain about what being Russian actually means. It thus goes a
significant step beyond the commonplace according to which Russia's
current troubles stem from the lack of a democratic tradition:
democracy requires a sense of self, Hosking maintains, and Russia
cannot fully embrace democracy without developing a viable ethnic
and civil identity.
*Washington Post Book World*
Hosking's book is a >tour de force of historical argument
vividly written, courageously argumentative, unafraid to take a
stand on the 'accursed question' of Russian identity and
destiny.
*Observer (Manchester, England)*
[An] impressive book...There are more resonances for today's Russia
in these pages than in all the archive-spilling that has
characterized so much post-Soviet publishing...It is unlikely that
a clearer, more stimulating account of the Russians' extraordinary
period of imperial history will be written.
*The Spectator*
[A] brilliant dual study of Russia's people and empire under the
Tsars...an elegantly written, humane and rigorous work of empirical
history, with considerable relevance to the problems of what, in
light of the author's arguments, we should optimistically call
another emergent nation.
*Independent on Sunday*
I counsel everyone to read the latest work of Prof. Geoffrey
Hosking, the man who has done the most to explain Russia to the
general reader...He has produced a fascinating analysis.
*Daily Telegraph*
Hosking has a fascinating thesis, arguing persuasively that there
are two Russias-->Rus' for the people and >Rossia for the
empire--and that the empire has always swallowed up the people,
with terrible consequences today as Russia tries to establish
itself as a nation. But this book can also be read simply as a
lucid and absorbing history of a great country, scrupulously
presented by a scholar whose breadth of knowledge astonishes.
*Best Books of 1997, Library Journal*
[A] tour de force from a foremost practitioner of Russian
history...Hosking offers an innovative reinterpretation of Russian
imperial history.
*Publishers Weekly*
The well-regarded Hosking...has applied his nearly encyclopedic
knowledge of Russia's past to the question of how and why the
Russians never developed a sense of nation. He argues that the
Russian monarchy and aristocracy were always more interested in
building an expansive empire than in promoting the belief in
nationhood...Hosking has brought a powerful intellect and great
erudition to this work, which is a sophisticated blend of narrative
and analysis.
*Library Journal*
A valuable reinterpretation of Russian history in the light of the
dissolution of the Soviet empire...[Hosking's] theme is that the
building of the empire obstructed the flowering of the nation and
is more fundamental in explaining what happened than either
autocracy or the backwardness of the country...[A] thoughtful,
often penetrating review of a complex and important
perspective.
*Kirkus Reviews*
Geoffrey Hosking has written a wonderfully suggestive and
innovative Russian history that deserves to be widely read. He
masterfully interweaves the latest scholarship in social history
with an imaginative rereading of intellectual, institutional, and
political history.
*Mark von Hagen, author of Soldiers of the Proletariat
Dictatorship*
A sweeping overview of Russian history written by a master of the
subject. It is rich in details, sources, and ideas about Russian
political, historical, and cultural development. It is an
impressive work that will be useful to students of Russian history,
culture, religion, as well as politics.
*Nicolai N. Petro, author of The Rebirth of Russian
Democracy*
The loss of empire has left many Russians bewildered because their
view of themselves as a nation had been intimately connected with
their self-image as a great imperial power. It has revealed how
weakly developed is the Russians' sense of national identity. Mr.
Hosking attributes that weakness to imperialism overwhelming
nationhood in Russia's history...The problem Mr. Hosking raises is
not new, but he is the first to explore it in depth. -- Richard
Pipes * New York Times Book Review *
Russia: People and Empire is the most interesting and
authoritative account of Russian imperial history in English. It is
a masterful synthesis, intelligent and lucid, passionately
argumentative but always fair, which everyone should read who wants
to understand the origins of Russia's predicament today. -- Orlando
Figes * Times *
The publication of this book... invites us to do nothing less than
rethink Russian history. In a sweeping yet meticulously argued
reinterpretation of the past five centuries, Hosking shows the ways
in which the Russian state's policy of empire-building has impeded
the creation of a Russian nation, leaving today's Russians
uncertain about what being Russian actually means. It thus goes a
significant step beyond the commonplace according to which Russia's
current troubles stem from the lack of a democratic tradition:
democracy requires a sense of self, Hosking maintains, and Russia
cannot fully embrace democracy without developing a viable ethnic
and civil identity. * Washington Post Book World *
Hosking's book is a >tour de force of historical argument
vividly written, courageously argumentative, unafraid to take a
stand on the 'accursed question' of Russian identity and destiny.
-- Michael Ignatieff * Observer (Manchester, England) *
[An] impressive book...There are more resonances for today's Russia
in these pages than in all the archive-spilling that has
characterized so much post-Soviet publishing...It is unlikely that
a clearer, more stimulating account of the Russians' extraordinary
period of imperial history will be written. -- Philip Marsden * The
Spectator *
[A] brilliant dual study of Russia's people and empire under the
Tsars...an elegantly written, humane and rigorous work of empirical
history, with considerable relevance to the problems of what, in
light of the author's arguments, we should optimistically call
another emergent nation. -- Michael Burleigh * Independent on
Sunday *
I counsel everyone to read the latest work of Prof. Geoffrey
Hosking, the man who has done the most to explain Russia to the
general reader...He has produced a fascinating analysis. -- Boris
Johnson * Daily Telegraph *
Hosking has a fascinating thesis, arguing persuasively that there
are two Russias-->Rus' for the people and
>Rossia for the empire--and that the empire has always
swallowed up the people, with terrible consequences today as Russia
tries to establish itself as a nation. But this book can also be
read simply as a lucid and absorbing history of a great country,
scrupulously presented by a scholar whose breadth of knowledge
astonishes. * Best Books of 1997, Library Journal *
[A] tour de force from a foremost practitioner of Russian
history...Hosking offers an innovative reinterpretation of Russian
imperial history. * Publishers Weekly *
The well-regarded Hosking...has applied his nearly encyclopedic
knowledge of Russia's past to the question of how and why the
Russians never developed a sense of nation. He argues that the
Russian monarchy and aristocracy were always more interested in
building an expansive empire than in promoting the belief in
nationhood...Hosking has brought a powerful intellect and great
erudition to this work, which is a sophisticated blend of narrative
and analysis. * Library Journal *
A valuable reinterpretation of Russian history in the light of the
dissolution of the Soviet empire...[Hosking's] theme is that the
building of the empire obstructed the flowering of the nation and
is more fundamental in explaining what happened than either
autocracy or the backwardness of the country...[A] thoughtful,
often penetrating review of a complex and important perspective. *
Kirkus Reviews *
Geoffrey Hosking has written a wonderfully suggestive and
innovative Russian history that deserves to be widely read. He
masterfully interweaves the latest scholarship in social history
with an imaginative rereading of intellectual, institutional, and
political history. -- Mark von Hagen, author of Soldiers of the
Proletariat Dictatorship
A sweeping overview of Russian history written by a master of the
subject. It is rich in details, sources, and ideas about Russian
political, historical, and cultural development. It is an
impressive work that will be useful to students of Russian history,
culture, religion, as well as politics. -- Nicolai N. Petro, author
of The Rebirth of Russian Democracy
Although at first blush, Hosking's book may seem like just another surey of Russian history, it is in fact much more. The well-regarded Hosking (deputy director, Univ. of London's School of Slavonic and Eastern European Studies) has applied his nearly encyclopedic knowledge of Russia's past to the question of how and why the Russians never developed a sense of nation. He argues that the Russian monarchy and aristocracy were always more interested in building an expansive empire than in promoting the belief in nationhood, something understood by the powerless peasantry. The expensive and inefficient bureaucracy that emerged over the centuries weighed against any possibility of community, and in the end this tottering edifice was unable to withstand the cataclysm of World War I. Hosking has brought a powerful intellect and great erudition to this work, which is a sophisticated blend of narrative and analysis. Essential for any library that collects material in Russian and European history.‘Edward Goedeken, Iowa State Univ. Lib., Ames
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