| Autocracy in the Provinces: The Muscovite Gentry and Political Culture in the Seventeenth Century Contributor(s): Kivelson, Valerie A. (Author) |
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ISBN: 0804725829 ISBN-13: 9780804725828 Publisher: Stanford University Press OUR PRICE: $80.75 Product Type: Hardcover Published: December 1996 Annotation: This book explores the possibilities for rich and varied social, cultural, and political development under the rule of an autocratic state. Seventeenth-century Muscovite society was theocentric, highly traditional, largely illiterate, and deeply dependent on the state in all aspects of life, and therefore does not at all fit Western definitions of a civil society. Nevertheless, Muscovites found interstices in the overarching autocratic culture in which to conduct their own affairs as they wished. It is this arena of early-modern social autonomy that this book investigates, focusing on the nature and limits of autonomous activity among a small but important part of Muscovite society, the provincial gentry. The author situates Muscovite history within a comparative framework, demonstrating that seventeenth-century Russia was neither backward nor peculiar, but developed its own variant of the concurrent state-building processes of Western European monarchies. The author' s comparisons enable us to understand and appreciate what the gentry of the Muscovite provinces did and thought, illuminating how they typified early-modern petty nobilities, notably in attempting accommodation with rising states and carving out autonomous spaces within and beneath state control. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - History | Eastern Europe - General - History | Russia & The Former Soviet Union |
| Dewey: 947.046 |
| LCCN: 96014634 |
| Physical Information: 1.3" H x 6.3" W x 9.2" (1.75 lbs) 396 pages |
| Themes: - Cultural Region - Eastern Europe - Cultural Region - Russia |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: This book explores the possibilities for rich and varied social, cultural, and political development under the rule of an autocratic state. The author situates Muscovite history within a comparative framework, demonstrating that seventeenth-century Russia was neither backward nor peculiar, but developed its own variant of the concurrent state-building processes of Western European monarchies. |