Russia in World History (New Oxford World History)

Over the course of twelve centuries, Russia's peoples overcame the constant challenges posed by geography, climate, availability of natural resources, and devastating foreign invasions to become the world's second largest land empire and the largest in modern history. This energetic introduction to Russia's history follows the development of local tribes into a federation of principalities centered at Kiev, the shift of power to Moscow and the centralization of the state, and Russia's pursuit of imperial ambitions. It examines the circumstances that led to the foundation of the world's first communist society in 1917, and traces the global consequences of Russia's extensive confrontation with the United States. Russia's arduous and costly climb to great power gains a personal dimension through the stories of individual women and men-pivotal figures as well as common people-illuminating the human consequences of sweeping historical change. Peoples of many ethnicities became part of the Russian empire and suffered or benefitted from its leaders' efforts to meld a multiethnic polity into a coherent political entity. This book examines how Russia served as a conduit for people, ideas, and commodities - owing between east and west, north and south and how it came to play an increasingly important role on a global scale.

History

Engel, Barbara Alpern

Martin, Janet

Russia

Oxford University Press

This narrative of women's experiences from the seventeenth century to the present evokes the voices of individuals to enhance Barbara Alpern Engel's account of how women of various social strata were affected by, and in turn affected, historical change. The study's use of the female perspective provides an original way of interpreting Russia's past and important insights into the impact of gender on the ways that Russians defined themselves and others, as well as political change.

Women in Russia, 1700–2000 (Advance Praise for Women in Russia, 1700-2000)

Arts & Photography

Cambridge University Press

Professor Engel presents a study of the social and cultural origins of female radicalism in nineteenth-century Russia. She examines the forces that prompted hundreds of women to rebel against their family roles, the factors that shaped their radical activity and thought, and the ways in which the circumstances of their rebellion influenced their attitudes toward private as well as public life. During this period, Russian women were more numerous and more prominent in social and political movements than were women elsewhere in Europe. By analysing the biographies of hundreds of these women, Professor Engel attempts to explain the sources of their prominence as well as the legacy they left for future generations.

Mothers and Daughters: Women of the Intelligentsia in Nineteenth-Century Russia

Europe

Professor Engel presents a study of the social and cultural origins of female radicalism in nineteenth-century Russia. She examines the forces that prompted hundreds of women to rebel against their family roles, the factors that shaped their radical activity and thought, and the ways in which the circumstances of their rebellion influenced their attitudes toward private as well as public life. During this period, Russian women were more numerous and more prominent in social and political movements than were women elsewhere in Europe. By analysing the biographies of hundreds of these women, Professor Engel attempts to explain the sources of their prominence as well as the legacy they left for future generations.

This book charts the personal dimensions of economic and social change by examining the significance and consequences of Russian peasant women's migration from the village to the factory and/or city in the years between the emancipation of the serfs in 1861 and the outbreak of World War I. The author uses case studies to explore the effects of urbanization and industrialization on the relationship of the migrant to the peasant household, and on family life and personal relations. It differs from other studies in looking at both village and city; in treating personal life, and in drawing on a wealth of archival data, most of it for the first time. The focus on women and the family provides a fresh perspective on the social history of late Imperial Russia.

Between the Fields and the City: Women, Work, and Family in Russia, 1861–1914

Women in Russia, 1700–2000

Biographies & Memoirs

Community & Culture

Breaking the Ties That Bound: The Politics of Marital Strife in Late Imperial Russia

Russia’s Great Reforms of 1861 were sweeping social and legal changes that aimed to modernize the country. In the following decades, rapid industrialization and urbanization profoundly transformed Russia’s social, economic, and cultural landscape. Barbara Alpern Engel explores the personal, cultural, and political consequences of these dramatic changes, focusing on their impact on intimate life and expectations and the resulting challenges to the traditional, patriarchal family order, the cornerstone of Russia’s authoritarian political and religious regime. The widely perceived "marriage crisis" had far-reaching legal, institutional, and political ramifications. In Breaking the Ties That Bound, Engel draws on exceptionally rich archival documentation―in particular, on petitions for marital separation and the materials generated by the ensuing investigations―to explore changing notions of marital relations, domesticity, childrearing, and intimate life among ordinary men and women in imperial Russia. 
Engel illustrates with unparalleled vividness the human consequences of the marriage crisis. Her research reveals in myriad ways that the new and more individualistic values of the capitalist marketplace and commercial culture challenged traditional definitions of gender roles and encouraged the self-creation of new social identities. Engel captures the intimate experiences of women and men of the lower and middling classes in their own words, documenting instances not only of physical, mental, and emotional abuse but also of resistance and independence. These changes challenged Russia’s rigid political order, forcing a range of state agents, up to and including those who spoke directly in the name of the tsar, to rethink traditional understandings of gender norms and family law. This remarkable social history is thus also a contribution to our understanding of the deepening political crisis of autocracy.

Self-Help

Relationships

Cornell University Press

Historical Study & Educational Resources

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Engel, Barbara Alpern. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Engel, Barbara Alpern

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Engel, Barbara Alpern. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Russia in World History (New Oxford World History)

Russia in World History (New Oxford World History)

Women in Russia, 1700–2000 (Advance Praise for Women in Russia, 1700-2000)

Mothers and Daughters: Women of the Intelligentsia in Nineteenth-Century Russia

Mothers and Daughters: Women of the Intelligentsia in Nineteenth-Century Russia

Between the Fields and the City: Women, Work, and Family in Russia, 1861–1914

Between the Fields and the City: Women, Work, and Family in Russia, 1861–1914

Women in Russia, 1700–2000

Breaking the Ties That Bound: The Politics of Marital Strife in Late Imperial Russia

Breaking the Ties That Bound: The Politics of Marital Strife in Late Imperial Russia