Politics and Culture in Eighteenth-Century Russia: Collected Essays by Isabel de Madariaga

Description

This is a collection of thirteen major essays on eighteenth-century Russia by one of the most distinguished Western historians. They illustrate and explore three major themes: the development of the Russian state and Russian society, in the years when Russia was changing from a minor power on the European periphery to a major actor on the continental stage; the influence of western ideas and western thought on Russian politics and culture; and the impact of the Enlightenment on Russia. This is a substantial contribution not just to the history of Russia, but to early modern Europe generally. Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents Acknowledgements Introduction PART ONE: Russian Government and Society 1. Tsar into emperor: the title of Peter the Great 2. Autocracy and sovereignty 3. Portrait of an eighteenth-century Russian statesman: Prince Dmitry Mikhaylovich Golitsyn 4. The eighteenth-century origin of Russian civil rights PART TWO: Social and Administrative Problems 5. Penal policy in the age of Catherine II 6. Catherine II and the serfs: a reconsideration of some problems 7. Freemasonry in eighteenth-century Russian society 8. Catherine II and the foundation of the Russian educational system PART THREE: Catherine II, Russian Society, and the World of Ideas 9. Catherine II and enlightened absolutism 10. Catherine II and the philosophes 11. Catherine II and Montesquieu between Prince M.M. Shcherbatov and Denis Diderot 12. Russia and the Enlightenment 13. The role of Catherine II in the literary and cultural life of Russia Index