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Powell's Staff:
Five Book Friday: In Memoriam
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Every year, the booksellers at Powell’s submit their Top Fives: their five favorite books that were released in 2023. It’s a list that, when put together, shows just how varied and interesting the book tastes of Powell’s booksellers are. I highly recommend digging into the recommendations — we would never lead you astray — but today...
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Brontez Purnell:
Powell’s Q&A: Brontez Purnell, author of ‘Ten Bridges I’ve Burnt’
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Rachael P.:
Starter Pack: Where to Begin with Ursula K. Le Guin
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Customer Comments
Joshua D Walker has commented on (3) products
Rural Revolutions in Southern Ukraine: Peasants, Nobles, and Colonists, 1774-1905
by
Leonard Friesen
Joshua D Walker
, August 28, 2012
A readable look at the promise and limitations that changed south Ukraine from frontier to revolutionary hotbed. Friesen begins his account as this steppe land north of the Black Sea opens for settlement. With so much land and so little influence, Imperial Russia encouraged the region's settlement by a disparate collection of foreigners, religious outsiders and peasant runaways. Through the next century, the supply of land constricts, serfdom is abolished, and technology reduces the need for labor in the fields. Rural Revolution concludes as peasants across the region are forcibly seizing land and expelling seasonable laborers. It's a fascinating trajectory and Friesen's strength is his ability to convey the aspirations and convictions of the region's inhabitants and how this informs their very different economic choices. A contentious issue for this area is the dramatic success of certain groups-- such as German Mennonites-- while most Russian peasants failed to flourish after the abolition of serfdom. Friesen convincingly articulates the expectations of the peasant community as it’s anticipation for reform turned to frustration and then to revolt. Focusing his study on a small slice of the Empire keeps Friesen from having to resort to broad generalities and makes for an engaging story. This will still be valuable work for those interested in broader trends in Russian economic and social history.
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The Battle That Shook Europe: Poltava and the Birth of the Russian Empire
by
Peter Englund
Joshua D Walker
, March 02, 2010
Battle that Shook Europe is one of the best books ever written on early modern war. Serious students of history shouldn’t be scared off by Englund’s sensationalist title; his writing is thoughtful and well considered. Understand, this is popular history writing, at least for his original Swedish audience, but if only all popular history was this well put together. It is a thorough on-the-ground description of a fascinating corner of history that is rarely considered outside Russia and Sweden. Living so far divorced from life and warfare in 1709, t is difficult to envision what it takes to move an army across a continent or make it effective when it arrives. His description of the bitter march into Russia or shattered last charge of the Swedes will be enlightening for anyone curious about the mechanics and motivations of warfare in this era. Enlivening the narrative is the personal details from various soldiers and officers. If he is occasionally caught being sentimental his countrymen, I think we can excuse him; his approach avoids partisanship or jingoism. That affection and intimacy is part of what makes this such an extraordinary book.
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Early Slavs Culture & Society in Early Medieval Eastern Europe
by
P M Barford
Joshua D Walker
, March 01, 2010
Ultimately there is no competition for Barford’s book. Unless the reader wants to dive into journal articles, there is no other English text that explains the Slavs from the 5th to the 10th century with such detail. Most surveys of Slavic history pick up at Kievan Rus, hardly mentioning what came before. It is understandable considering how little information is available on these peoples before the 9th century. With their material culture consisting largely of wood it has left few clues in the archaeological record. The few textual sources were written by their enemies; they are skewed toward the unsympathetic and concern only those groups spilling into the borderlands. Such basic questions as how the Slavic language spread across a third of Europe so quickly, what gods they believed in, or how genetically related these people were are largely unknown. Barford doesn’t have all the answers, but he plainly and clearly lays out what we know and what is likely based on the sources available. Barford’s tone is accessible and inquisitive, and his book covers all areas of life and culture that can be inferred from the sources. He is also unusually generous with illustrations. Early Slavs is worth the price just for the maps and figures that take up the last quarter of the pages.
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