On the eve of World War I, the Russian Empire was among the most diverse in the world, and religious identity was the single most important factor for determining a subject's relation to the imperial state. The revolutions of 1917 overturned the Empire's religious world. The Provisional Government sought to disentangle the state from its long-standing ties to the Orthodox Church; minority religious groups looked forward to greater freedom of practice; and, with the Communist Revolution of ...

The New York Times bestselling author of The Benedict Option draws on the wisdom of Christian survivors of Soviet persecution to warn American Christians of approaching dangers.For years, émigrés from the former Soviet bloc have been telling Rod Dreher they see telltale signs of "soft" totalitarianism cropping up in America--something more Brave New World than Nineteen Eighty-Four. Identity politics are beginning to encroach on e...

Spanning the divide between Europe and Asia, Russia is a multi-ethnic empire with a huge territory, strategically placed and abundantly provided with natural resources. But Russia's territory has a harsh climate, is cut off from most maritime contact with the outside world, and has open and vulnerable land frontiers. It has therefore had to devote much of its wealth to the armed forces, and the sheer size of the empire has made it difficult to mobilise resources and to governeffectively, e...

"A sweeping, intricate description of Russian cultural history, spanning the pre-Romanov era through six centuries to the reign of Joseph Stalin. Flowing with ease through time and topic — from art to music, literature, philosophy, mythology and more — the book provides readers with an alluring portrayal of Russia’s proud heritage. Its impressive scope and lasting insights have made it a foundational text in Russian studies. In fact, it was this book, more than any other, that captured my ...

A bold, provocative reckoning with our current political delusions and dysfunctions.Ever since its publication in 1651, Thomas Hobbes’s Leviathan has unsettled and challenged how we understand the world. Condemned and vilified by each new generation, his cold political vision continues to see through any number of human political and ethical vanities.In his wonderfully stimulating book The New Leviathans, John Gray allows us to understand ...

A “pioneering and fundamental” (Timothy Snyder) new history of Ukraine from one of its leading public intellectualsWhen Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, the world witnessed the “creative, freewheeling, darkly humorous, and deeply resilient society” that is contemporary Ukraine. In this timely and original history, a bestseller in Ukraine, the historian Yaroslav Hrytsak tells the sweeping story of his nation through a meticulous examination of the major events, confl...

This book is a critical study of the interaction between the Russian Church and society in the late 19th and early 20th century. While other studies exist that draw attention to the voices in the Church typified as liberal in the years leading up to the Revolution, this work introduces a wide range of conservative opinion that equally strove for spiritual renewal and the spread of the Gospel. Grounded in original research conducted in the newly accessible libraries and archives of post-Sov...

I admire greatly the way in which Deacon Sciolino has been able to absorb a vast amount of material and weave it into a coherent account of the R. C. Church vis--vis the Holocaust. Telling the story from the inside has an especial relevance and importance. Rev. Hubert G. Locke, cofounder of the Annual Scholars Conference on the Holocaust and the Churches The image of Jews as God-killers and their refusal to convert to Christianity has fueled a long tradition of Christian intolerance, hatre...

"A fresh and lively approach to understanding how the various Russian empires have worked." — Slavic ReviewA 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 ...

With his first book, Hitler’s Willing Executioners, Daniel Jonah Goldhagen dramatically revised our understanding of the role ordinary Germans played in the Holocaust. Now he brings his formidable powers of research and argument to bear on the Catholic Church and its complicity in the destruction of European Jewry. What emerges is a work that goes far beyond the familiar inquiries—most of which focus solely on Pope Pius XII—to address an entire history of hatred and persec...

"An important book" that delves into the role of religious authorities in Romania during the Holocaust, and the continuing effects today ( Antisemitism Studies).In 1930, about 750,000 Jews called Romania home. At the end of World War II, approximately half of them survived. Only recently, after the fall of Communism, are details of the history of the Holocaust in Romania coming to light.Ion Popa explores this history by scrutinizing the role of the R...

A collection of essays exploring the history of an antisemitic accusation that haunted Jewish people in Europe and Russia, and how it spread.This innovative reassessment of ritual murder accusations brings together scholars working in history, folklore, ethnography, and literature. Favoring dynamic explanations of the mechanisms, evolution, popular appeal, and responses to the blood libel, the essays rigorously engage with the larger social and cultural worlds that ...