This new interpretation of the final years of Imperial Russia provides a clear and concise introduction to a critical period in the history of modern Russia. Professor Hutchinson outlines the key problems facing the Tsarist regime, and the attitudes of its Liberal critics and revolutionary enemies. In particular, he considers how the monarchy was able to withstand the uprisings of 1904-06, but failed in 1917. This important new study provides an analysis of social, as well as political developments, and concludes with a brief historiographical essay which draws together alternative interpretations of the final years of the Tsars.

This new interpretation of the final years of Imperial Russia provides a clear and concise introduction to a critical period in the history of modern Russia. Professor Hutchinson outlines the key problems facing the Tsarist regime, and the attitudes of its Liberal critics and revolutionary enemies. In particular, he considers how the monarchy was able to withstand the uprisings of 1904-06, but failed in 1917. This important new study provides an analysis of social, as well as political developments, and concludes with a brief historiographical essay which draws together alternative interpretations of the final years of the Tsars.

Ò . . . a marvelous source for the social history of Russian peasant society in the years before the revolution. . . . The translation is superb.Ó ÑSteven Hoch Ò . . . one of the best ethnographic portraits that we have of the Russian village. . . . a highly readable text that is an excellent introduction to the world of the Russian peasantry.Ó ÑSamuel C. Ramer Village Life in Late Tsarist Russia provides a unique firsthand portrait of peasant family life as recorded by Olga Semyonova Tian-Shanskaia, an ethnographer and painter who spent four years at the turn of the twentieth century observing the life and customs of villagers in a central Russian province. Unusual in its awareness of the rapid changes in the Russian village in the late nineteenth century and in its concentration on the treatment of women and children, SemyonovaÕs ethnography vividly describes courting rituals, marriage and sexual practices, childbirth, infanticide, child-rearing practices, the lives of women, food and drink, work habits, and the household economy. In contrast to a tradition of rosy, romanticized descriptions of peasant communities by Russian upper-class observers, Semyonova gives an unvarnished account of the harsh living conditions and often brutal relationships within peasant families.

This volume offers a detailed examination of the stability of the late imperial regime in Russia. Accessible yet insightful, contributions cover the historiography of complex topics such as peasants, workers, revolutionaries, foreign relations, and Nicholas II. In addition, there are original studies of some of the leading intellectuals of the time.