This book presents two extraordinary texts - The Shining of Swords by Al-Qarakhi and a new translation for a contemporary readership of Leo Tolstoy's Hadji Murat - illuminating the mountain war between the Muslim peoples of the Caucasus and the imperial Russian army from 1830 to 1859. The authors offer a complete commentary on the various intellectual and religious contexts that shaped the two texts and explain the historical significance of the Russian-Muslim confrontati...

This book, focusing on the history of religious and political thinking in early modern Russia, demonstrates that Russia’s path toward enlightenment began long before Peter the Great’s opening to the West. Examining a broad range of writings, G. M. Hamburg shows why Russia’s enlightenment constituted a precondition for the explosive emergence of nineteenth-century writers such as Fedor Dostoyevsky and Vladimir Soloviev.

Fyodor Sergeyevich Olferieff (1885–1971) led a remarkable life in the shadows of history. This book presents his memoirs for the first time, translated and annotated by his granddaughter Tanya A. Cameron. Born into a noble family, Olferieff was a Russian career military officer who observed firsthand key events of the early twentieth century, including the 1905–7 revolution, the Great War, the collapse of the imperial state, and the civil wars in Ukraine and Crimea. Olferieff wrestles with...

Thoreaus zeitloses Werk als spannendes und prominent besetztes HörpielHenry David Thoreau (1817–1862) veröffentlichte aus Protest gegen die amerikanische Eroberungs- und Sklavenpolitik die Schrift »Über die Pflicht zum Ungehorsam gegen den Staat«. Ein zeitloses Pamphlet – scharfzüngig und ironisch, kompromisslos in den Thesen und gleichzeitig von großer poetischer Kraft. Seine Freiheitslehre ist einer jener Texte, die die Welt verändern. »Wenn ein Mensch frei ist i...