“A dream team of scholars have imaginatively recreated the lives of ordinary people who lived in medieval and early modern Russia.” (*)
This collection of imaginative biographical portraits depicts representatives of every social group in Old Russia—princes, boyars, metropolitans, monks, icon painters, artisans, landowners, free peasants, serfs, and slaves—including Russians, Tatars, Cossacks, and Greeks. Some of the portraits are reconstructions of known individuals, others are composites, but all are true to their time and place. The contributing historians undertook this collaborative project as a way to bring Old Russia vibrantly to life for students and other readers.
The volume includes a pronunciation guide, a glossary, a chronology (1304-1725), annotated reading lists, and illustrations.
Endorsements:
“The Editors have assembled a dream team of scholars to imaginatively recreate the lives of ordinary people who lived in medieval and early modern Russia. Although the lives presented here are fictionalized, they are based upon a deep knowledge of Russian history and many years of careful study of authentic sources. The result is a fascinating collection of character sketches and historical vignettes that not only ring true but will also hold the attention of undergraduate students. The editors and the contributors are to be congratulated for producing such an interesting, unique, and valuable tool for reconstructing early Russian history.” — Chester Dunning, Texas A&M University (*)
“Is history all facts, or does an understanding of the past require imagination? In this splendid volume a score of historians daringly straddle this divide, bringing their research experience as well as their imaginations to bear upon an array of character types who peopled early modern Russian society. Monk and witch, serf and slave, tsaritsa and serving woman, Christian and Muslim—they're all here, brought to life from the surviving shards of their lives and times by very talented—and imaginative—historians. If the past is a foreign country, as some have said, I want these guides to show me the way!” — Daniel H. Kaiser, Grinnell College