Picturing Russian Empire

Description: "Picturing Russian Empire brings a fresh approach to both Russian and Imperial Studies by centering the visual. In a series of short essays, focused on striking images, the authors reexamine historical encounters and exchanges within the shifting borders of the empire. The book not only offers interpretations of the images but also shows the kinds of work that images themselves can accomplish by changing or solidifying notions of how the world is or should be organized. The book advances the idea of a "pictosphere" in which images from the many visual cultures of the empire interacted. The essays are lively and accessible, crafted to engage the reader. Picturing Russian Empire also provides a historical and visual approach to understanding present-day conflicts in Russia, Eastern Europe, and Eurasia"--

Review Quotes: "Picturing Russian Empire is a wonderfully original volume that is a welcome addition to the pedagogical tools we use to introduce students to Russia's empires. The book's paramount advantage lies in its much-needed presentation of tangible artifacts that bring ostensibly distant, perhaps abstract, topics closer to the students. This visual representation of Russian history enables students to appreciate, understand, and critique the narratives they have grown accustomed to analyzing from printed sources."--Stephen Riegg, Texas A&M University

"Picturing Russian Empire's strengths include innovative ways of thinking about Russian/Eurasian history and its breadth of coverage and scholarship. The text is comprehensive and accessible, with helpful discussions about how to analyze visual sources in historical research."--Shoshana Keller, Hamilton College

"This is a uniquely comprehensive and rich survey of more than a millennium of Russian history that makes use of visual images and their explication by expert specialists to give students and other readers a compelling perspective on the richness and complexity of that country's society and its experiences. While it would serve as an excellent complement to any existing textbook, it can serve as a text in its own right, by prompting discussion that the instructor can use to expand on or situate critical junctures or interpretative questions in Russian history."--David McDonald, University of Wisconsin-Madison

"This is a rich, multifaceted overview of the visual, non-verbal traditions and representations of the Russian empire, starting from the Kievan Rus', ending with the current realities of the Russian Federation. Taken together, the chapters explore the issues of identity, power, homogeneity, agency, reality, and perceptions in an accessible yet thoroughly analytical way."--Natalie Bayer, Drake University

"Scholars who explore Picturing Russian Empire for themselves are sure to discover new or enhanced ways of seeing, imagining, conceptualizing, and teaching the multiethnic, transcultural, and undeniably imperial dimensions of the Russian and Soviet past. I encourage them to dive in and to open themselves to the worlds of Russia and empire that are examined and represented in this book--especially if the prospect of doing so makes them nervous."--Brigid O'Keeffe, in The Russian Review

"Picturing Russian Empire offers more than fifty essays written by scholars of history, film, literature, and art that together offer a guided visual tour of the peoples, landscapes, dilemmas, relationships, representations, and worlds of Russia's empires."--The Russian Review

"Picturing Russian Empire a remarkable volume. It is impossible to encapsulate its thematic diversity in a single review, but scholars from a wide range of disciplines, geographic regions, and thematic interests will almost certainly find something of interest within this collection. Its scope and length can be intimidating at first glance, but the thoughtful organization and inquisitive nature of its chapters make Picturing Russian Empire an equally important and enjoyable work of scholarship." -- Tyson Luneau, H-Net Reviews