Synopses & Reviews
This book represents the first concerted effort to place 19th and 20th century Russia in European context, as well as to understand Soviet Russia against the historical background of Imperial Russia. In a wide-ranging selection of topics--from corporal punishment to diary-writing, from the rise of nationalism to biological engineering--the authors argue that Russia shared in a larger European modernity marked by increased overlap and sometimes merger of realms that had previously been treated as separate entities: the social and the political, state and society, government and economy, and private and public.
Review
"...the questions and approaches are representative of some of the best new work in the field."--
Slavic Review
Synopsis
This book is the first concerted effort to place nineteenth- and twentieth-century Russia in European context, as well as to understand Soviet Russia against the historical background of Imperial Russia.
Synopsis
Russian Modernity places Imperial and Soviet Russia in a European context. Russia shared in a larger European modernity marked by increased overlap and sometimes merger of realms that had previously been treated as discrete entities: the social and the political, state and society, government and economy, and private and public. These were attributes of Soviet dictatorship, but their origins can be located in a larger European context and in the emergence of modern forms of government in Imperial Russia.
Synopsis
List of Figures Acknowledgements Notes on the Contributors INTRODUCTION A Modern Paradox: Subject and Citizen in Nineteenth and Twentieth-century Russia; Y.Kotsonis PART I: TOWARD A MODERN POLITICS: CONSCIOUSNESS AND UNIVERSALISM IN PRE-REFORM RUSSIA Branding the Exile as 'Other': Corporal Punishment and the Construction of Boundaries in Mid-nineteenth-century Russia; A.M.Schrader Ethnicity, Nationality and the Masses: Narodnost' and Modernity in Imperial Russia; N.Knight PART II: REFORM AND REVOLUTION AS MODERN MOMENTS To Make a Difference: The Category of Ethnicity in Late Imperial Russian Politics, 1861-1917; C.Steinwedel What's So Revolutionary about the Russian Revolution? State Practices and the New-Style Politics, 1914-1921; P.Holquist PART III: THE PARADOX OF HUMAN REDEEMABILITY IN SOVIET RUSSIA Cutting and Counting: Forensic Medicine as a Science of Society in Bolshevik Russia, 1920-1929; K.M.Pinnow Science, Glands, and the Medical Construction of Gender Difference in Revolutionary Russia; F.L.Bernstein Modernization or Neo-Traditionalism? Ascribed Nationality and Soviet Primordialism; T.Martin PART IV: NARRATIVE AND IDENTITY IN THE SOVIET CONTEXT Narratives of October and the Issue of Legitimacy; F.C.Corney Victims Talk: Defense Testimony and Denunciation under Stalin; G.Alexopoulos Self-Realization in the Stalinist System: Two Soviet Diaries of the 1930s; J.Hellbeck CONCLUSION European Modernity and Soviet Socialism; D.L.Hoffmann Index
About the Author
David L. Hoffman is Associate Professor of History at Ohio State University.
Yanni Kotsonis teaches European and Russian history at New York University.
Table of Contents
A Modern Paradox--Yanni Kotsonis *
Toward Modern Politics: Consciousness and Universalism in Pre-Reform Russia * Branding the Exile as "Other"--Abby M. Schrader * Ethnicity, Nationality and the Masses--Nathaniel Knight *
Reform and Revolution as Modern Moments * To Make a Difference--Charles Steinwedel * What's So Revolutionary about the Russian Revolution?--Peter Holquist *
The Paradox of Human Redeemability in Soviet Russia * Cutting and Counting--Kenneth M. Pinnow * Science, Glands, and the Medical Construction of Gender Difference in Revolutionary Russia--Frances L. Bernstein * Modernization or Neo-Traditionalism?--Terry Martin *
Narrative and Identity in the Soviet Context * Narratives of October and the Issue of Legitimacy--Frederick C. Corney * Victim Talk--Golfo Alexopoulos * Self-Realization in the Stalinist System--Jochen Hellbeck *
Conclusion * European Modernity and Soviet Socialism--David L. Hoffmann