Tales of Imperial Russia by Francis W Wcislo
History and biography meet in Tales of Imperial Russia, a study of the late-Romanov Russian Empire, told through the figure of Sergei Witte. Like Bismarck or Gorbachev, Witte was a European statesman serving an empire. He was the most important statesman of pre-revolutionary Russia. In the Georgia, Odessa, Kyiv, and St. Petersburg of the nineteenth century, he inhabited the worlds of the Victorian Age, as young boy, student, railway executive, lover of divorcees and Jews, monarchist, and technocrat. His political career saw him construct the Tran-Siberian Railway, propel Russia towards Far Eastern war with Japan, visit America in 1905 to negotiate the Treaty of Portsmouth concluding that war, and return home to confront revolutionary disorder with the State Duma, the first Russian parliament. The book is based on two memoir manuscripts that Witte wrote between 1906 and 1912, and includes his account of Nicholas II, the Empress Alexandra, and the machinations of a Russian imperial court that he believed were leading the country to revolution. Telling the story both of a life and of the last days of the Tsarist empire, Tales of Imperial Russia will delight and inform all those interested in biography, literature, and history, as well as readers interested in the history of modern Russia.
Sergei Witte was a facinating man, and this book, based on his memoirs and voluminous reminiscences, will appeal to people here and around the world* Steve Forbes, Forbes Magazine *
A stimulating new biography. * Stephen Lovell, Times Literary SupplementTony Barber, Financial Times *
In an innovative and informative study of both Witte and his milieu, Francis W. Wcislo...uncovers the man and his times through an excavation of Witte's copious memoirs and the writings of his contemporaries...a textured and elegant view of a man who was so central to Russia * Jennifer Siegel, Wall Street Journal *
a commendable interpretive treatment of a notoriously complex and controversial figure ... This biography is a must for those interested not only in the late Romanov period, but in the long nineteenth century in general. * Anton Fedyashin, European History Quarterly *
A stimulating new biography. * Stephen Lovell, Times Literary SupplementTony Barber, Financial Times *
In an innovative and informative study of both Witte and his milieu, Francis W. Wcislo...uncovers the man and his times through an excavation of Witte's copious memoirs and the writings of his contemporaries...a textured and elegant view of a man who was so central to Russia * Jennifer Siegel, Wall Street Journal *
a commendable interpretive treatment of a notoriously complex and controversial figure ... This biography is a must for those interested not only in the late Romanov period, but in the long nineteenth century in general. * Anton Fedyashin, European History Quarterly *
Frank W. Wcislo is a historian of modern Russia, Eurasia, and Europe. He is Dean of The Commons and Associate Professor of History at Vanderbilt University.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780199543564 |
| ISBN 10 | 0199543569 |
| Title | Tales of Imperial Russia |
| Author | Francis W Wcislo |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press |
| Year published | 2011-03-17 |
| Number of pages | 330 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |