Ransel's account provides a vivid analysis of educated merchants in provincial Russia . . . His skill in blending narative and analysis and the elegance of his prose make the book a pleasure to read.84.1, Spring 2010
* Business History Review *
. . . Ivan Tolchenov's journal, and David Ransel's scrupulous work with it, have produced an insightful portrait of one Russian merchant and of a 'lost' Russian middle class.Vol. 32.3 Summer 2009
-- Lina Bernstein * BIOGRAPHY *
Russian merchants have never enjoyed a good press. Since the middle of the nineteenth century the spectre of the samodur - the crude grasping domestic tyrant who reigned supreme over 'a dark kingdom' . . . - has exerted a stubborn hold over popular perceptons of the merchant class. . . . The past few decades, however, have witnessed a shift away from these old habits, and David Ransel's book is an important addition to a robust field of research devoted to these middle orders. Oct. 23, 2009
-- Douglas Smith * TLS - Times Literary Supplement *
Tolchenov's Journal has found a fluid interpreter in David L. Ransel, whose patient, knowing analysis illuminates the many gems the diary has to offer . . . . [This book] portrays with unique breadth the middling, provincial world of Russia's widely scattered townsfolk . . . . Ransel's close study will bear repeated reading and help historians visualize the world of eighteenth-century Russia across many dimensions.Vol. 115 Feb. 2010
-- John Randolph * University of Illinois, UrbanaChampaign *
Like an intrepid detective, Ransel grasps these slender clues, and, armed with an inexhaustible inquisitiveness and an imaginative modus operandi, he sets out to provide a detailed and vivid reconstruction of the life of this merchant. . . . The end result is a lively narrative with few antecedents in Russian historiography. . . . This is a book deserving of a wide and appreciative readership. As source study, methodology, argument, and narrative A Merchant's Tale offers rich rewards.Spring 2010
* Slavic Review *
Tolchnov's diary, available in a Russian edition, is a rich source. Thanks to this fertile encounter between the energetic chronicler and the gifted historian, we have here an edition that reads like a novel while offering a course in Russian history.
* Canadian - American Slavic Studies *
David Ransel brought . . . his extensive studies . . . [of] Russian merchants to a dignified conclusion . . . [T]his book in the future will inspire many . . . research questions.
* H-Soz-Kult *
. . . [the author] used Tolchenov's detailed diary to produce a revealing book about a segment of Russian society that had been largely ignored by historians . . . .May 3, 2009
* Herald Times *
. . . beautifully written . . . a first-rate scholarly work that challenges our perception of a non-elite person's daily life in the provincial Russia of the second half of the eighteenth century . . . . The result is microhistory at its best. Ransel manages to bring a life, turned nothing but dry text, back to life again. . . . a ground-breaking and thought-provoking contribution to the historiography of eighteenth-century Russia.Vol. 68.4 October 2009
-- Olga E. Glagoleva * Toronto, Canada *
Ransel has long since established his bona fides as a specialist in Russian social history. Here, he deploys his expertise to good effect in deciphering the intricacies of the Tolchenov diaries. Vol. 82.4, December 2010
* Journal of Modern History *
Ransel's account serves as an excellent introduction to the complicated development of Russian society in an era of Enlightenment and change. Volume 73, No. 1 2011
* HISTORIAN *
[F]rom the thin threads of Tolchenov's sketchy diary jottings, Ransel has managed to weave a broad tapestry of a Russian merchant's life. This is expertly done by judicious use of the year-end summaries and supporting archival material.
* Slavonic and East European Review *
