Description:
Robert Geraci presents an exceptionally original account of both the politics and the lived experience of diversity in a society whose ethnic complexity has long been downplayed. For centuries, Russians have defined their country as both a...
Review Quotes:
Geraci's fascinating book uses a variety of well-documented analyses and examples to examine the ambiguities of nationality and assimilation in the late imperial period. He weaves material from local archives, contemporary periodicals, ethnographic texts, and memoirs to present a multilayered analysis of ethnic life in the Kazan region.... This thought-provoking and extremely well-written book should be on the reading list of anyone interested in the ambiguities created when nationality, identity, and the goals of empire intersect. Geraci raises a number of questions about Russianness and convincingly shows how assimilation was difficult to achieve and define.
--Margaret Foley "Slavic and East European Journal"