The Story
A fundamental dimension of the Russian historical experience has been the diversity of its people and cultures, religions and languages, landscapes and economies. For six centuries this diversity was contained within the sprawling territories of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union, and it persists today in the entwined states and societies of the former USSR. Russias People of Empire explores this enduring multicultural world through life stories of 31 individualsfamous and obscure, high born and low, men and womenthat illuminate the crosscultural exchanges at work from the late 1500s to postSoviet Russia. Working on the scale of a single life, these microhistories shed new light on the multicultural character of the Russian Empire, which both shaped individuals lives and in turn was shaped by them.
Description
A fundamental dimension of the Russian historical experience has been the diversity of its people and cultures, religions and languages, landscapes and economies. For six centuries this diversity was contained within the sprawling territories of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union, and it persists today in the entwined states and societies of the former USSR. Russias People of Empire explores this enduring multicultural world through life stories of 31 individualsfamous and obscure, high born and low, men and womenthat illuminate the crosscultural exchanges at work from the late 1500s to postSoviet Russia. Working on the scale of a single life, these microhistories shed new light on the multicultural character of the Russian Empire, which both shaped individuals lives and in turn was shaped by them.
