History

Articles originally published in the journal Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History. A portion of the editors' introduction states:

"With their broad range of thematic foci and theoretical approaches, the contributors to this volume have captured some of the richness and dynamism of a growing scholarly field. The demonstrate the possibilities opened up by the disintegration of the Soviet Union, which has encouraged historians to pay greater attention to the perspectives and source materials of the former imperial borderlands. At the same time, tension between older and newer visions o Russia's historical role in Eurasia-as oppressive hegemon or bringer of "enlightenment" or, depending on the angle of vision, both at the same time- has proved intellectually fruitful, as have discussions generated by Edward Said's and other models of imperial domination. We hope that this volume will help deepen our understanding of Russia's complex and historically fateful dialogue with Europe and Asia as well as with it s own former imperial periphery."

CONTENTS From the Editors: Russia's Orient, Russia's West The Orientalism Debate 1. Russian History and the Debate over Orientalism ADEEB KHALID 2. On Russian Orientalism A Response to Adeeb Khalid NATHANIEL KNIGHT 3. Does Russian OrientalismHave a Russian Soul? A Contribution to the Debate between Nathaniel Knight and Adeeb Khalid MARIA TODOROVA Orientology and the Study of Empire 4. Catherinian Chinoiserie DAVID SCHIMMELPENNICK VAN DER OYE 5. Russia's First "Orient" Characterizing the Crimea in 1787 SARA DICKINSON 6. European, National and (Anti-) Imperial The Formation of Academic Oriental Studies in Late Tsarist and Early Soviet Russia VERA TOLZ 7. Between Local and Inter-Imperial Russian Imperial History in Search of Scope and Paradigm ALEXEI MILLER Imperial Practices and Experiences 8. Religion and Russification Russian Language in the Catholic Churches of the "Northwest Provinces" after 1863 THEODORE R. WEEKS 9. Did the Government Seek to Russify Lithuanians and Poles in the Northwest Territory after the Uprising of 1863-64? DARIUS STALIUNAS 10. Russification and the Bureaucratic Mind in the Russian Empire's Northwest Region in the 1860s MIKHAIL DOLBILOV 11. The Ambiguities of Russification ANDREAS KAPPELER 12. Caught in the Crossfire? Russian Sectarians in the Caucasian Theater of War, 1853-56 and 1877-78 NICHOLAS B. BREYFOGLE 13. Liberation through Captivity Nikolai Shipov's Adventures in the Imperial Borderlands DANIEL BROWER AND SUSAN LAYTON 14. Bondage and Emancipation across Cultural Borderlands Some Reflections and Extensions JAMES F. BROOKS 15. The Dilemmas of Enlightenment in the Eastern borderlands The Theater and Library in Tbilisi AUSTIN JERSILD AND NELI MELKADZE 16. Kazakh Oath-Taking in Colonial Courtrooms Legal Culture and Russian Empire-Building VIRGINA MARTIN Along the Borderlands of the Empire (A Conclusion) DANIEL BROWER

Born in a tiny village amidst revolution and civil war, Anna Yegorova came of age during the grimmest years of Soviet power. An optimistic and resolute young patriot, she saw hope and vision in the nascent superpower's ideology. She volunteered to help build Moscow. And she took to the skies and learned to fly. But when Germany's 1941 invasion shook Russia to its core, Yegorova joined her fellow pilots in the bloodiest war zone in human history, flying hair-raising reconnaissance missions in a wooden biplane. She became a flight leader in the famously deadly "Shturmovik" ground-attack aircraft, guiding her comrades in furious air battles along the southern front. Eventually shot down and captured near Warsaw, Yegorova survived five months in a Nazi concentration camp. After the war, she was welcomed home with suspicion and persecution by the notorious Soviet secret police. Amid the epic catastrophe of Russia's "Great Patriotic War" and her own personal tragedies, Yegorova's story is also one of joy, camaraderie among soldiers and pilots and the quiet satisfaction of defending one's country, all against a backdrop of love for the freedom of flight. in 1965, Yegorova was awarded the illustrious "Hero of the Soviet Union," then Moscow's highest honor.

Political Humor Under Stalin is an anthology of jokes, wisecracks, and satire from the Soviet 1930's and '40s that provides a glimpse of everyday dissembling and dissent in one of the modern world's most repressive societies. More than merely a joke book, it offers no less than a folkloric counter narrative to the "official" history of the USSR, as well as a ground-breaking discussion of the culture of joke-telling under Stalin. "Political Humor Under Stalin is a resource that will interest historians and cultural critics, and ha the potential to become a class reading in a number of subjects. I enjoyed it immensely: it satisfied the scholar in me, plus it was just plain fun." - James von Geldern, Macalester College

Book Review

Review in Jahrbucher für Geschichte Osteuropas, Vol. 60, no. 2, 2012 (via Recensio.net, Review platform for European History)

Out of print in Russia for almost a century, since 1991 Russia and Europe has appeared in at least eight new editions totaling more than 100,000 copies. As Russians have re-­‐‑evaluated their place in the world in the post-­‐‑Soviet era, this book has become part of that conversation. “Nikolai Danilevskii’s Russia and Europe is without question one of the most important books in the great nineteenth-­‐‑century debate about the nation’s place in the world. While hardly the first—the argument between the Slavophiles and the Westernisers had already been raging for several decades—Danilevskii’s book eloquently and intelligently made the case both for Slavdom’s distinct and superior historical role as well as for Russia’s mission as its leader. Nearly every survey of Russian intellectual history devotes attention to this seminal text. Its influence was felt not only in the realm of Russian thought but also in diplomacy, as Pan-­‐‑Slavism, the late nineteenth-­‐‑century doctrine about tsarism’s destiny in the Balkans and the Bosporus directly led to war in 1877 and also played a role in the outbreak of World War I. Meanwhile, in the wake of the Soviet Union’s collapse, Danilevskii’s message about a special Russian destiny has again found a ready audience among many today. “Woodburn’s translation will find a ready clientele among those interested in Russian intellectual history and the growing field of Russian national identity, as well as historiography more generally.” —David Schimmelpenninck van der Oye, Brock University

This volume focuses on the Revolution of 1905 as a critical juncture in modern Russian history and offers a fresh approach by treating the revolution as a transnational and transcultural phenomenon. In five sections, “Shifting Identities,” “Revolution and Civil Society,” “Center and Peripheries,” “The Revolution in Media and Culture,” and “The International Dimension and Flows of Concepts and Ideas,” the essays combine a wide range of analyses to explore transcultural entanglements and expand our understanding of the first Russian Revolution.

This book is Volume 6 of the  Allan K. Wildman Group Historical Series

In Bounded Mind and Soul, twelve leading scholars grapple with questions about the complex relationship between Israel and Russia. What are their mutual interests? What are the areas of conflict? And how has the immigration of more than one million Jews from the former Soviet Union affected Israeli culture, society, and politics? These essays range from studies of literature and intellectual history to in-depth examinations of the treatment of Jewish dissidents in Soviet times and new immigrants in Israel. The collection provides unexpected answers to the questions: what is the extent of Russia in Israel and Israel in Russia?

This book is Volume 4 of the series New Approaches to Russian and East European Jewish Culture.