books @ cc.

A Cultural History of Russia
by Orlando Figes (2002)

Thematically organized, the book encompasses the cultural history of Russia from around 17th to 20th century, with heavy emphasis on the earlier period, especially the 18th and 19th century. Central to all these themes are the questions of quintessential “Russian culture” and national identities: the European and Asian identities, the bourgeois and peasant differences occur as pervasive leitmotif throughout (sometimes to the point where its dichotomization begs a question of validity).