Russia in 1913

"A stimulating synthesis of a wide range of material pertaining to Russia on the eve of World War I. Uses newspaper reportage of events and incidents in 1913, not only to add the flavor of the times, but also to give evidence of the complexity of the country, a complexity that many conventional generalizations ignore."

"Superbly crafted and magisterial. Dowler's challenging of the myths of Russia's economic and social backwardness, its peasantry's savagery and brutality, and a homogeneous state in opposition to society at large is empirically and historiographically based. So much happened in 1913 that it is surprising that no historian before Dowler thought to do such a study!"