Russian History through the Senses: From 1700 to the Present

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Bringing together an impressive cast of well-respected scholars in the field of modern Russian studies, Russian History through the Senses investigates life in Russia from 1700 to the present day via the senses. It examines past experiences of taste, touch, smell, sight and sound to capture a vivid impression of what it was to have lived in the Russian world, so uniquely placed as it is between East and West, during the last three hundred years. The book discusses the significance of sensory history in relation to modern Russia and covers a range of exciting case studies, rich with primary source material, that provide a stimulating way of understanding modern Russia at a visceral level. Russian History through the Senses is a novel text that is of great value to scholars and students interested in modern Russian studies.

Reviews

This study is an engaging interdisciplinary investigation of the sense in the specifically Russian context, which will be useful to those interested in sensory studies, Russian History, everyday culture, literature, and film, as well as those studying discourses on national identity, colonialism, social mobility and social engineering, personal and collective experiences, and memory. * Slavic and East European Journal *
With its broad sweep in time and careful attention to issues lying just below the surface, Russian History through the Senses deserves to be read by scholars seeking fresh inspiration from clearly written articles based upon a close examination of new primary sources. * Canadian Slavonic Papers *
[A] set of essays that opens doors into long familiar topics and establishes some new and exciting avenues of research In addition to its own significant contributions to the history of sensation, this volume suggests that much more worth pursuing may be lurking within the inexpressible realm of the senses. * The Russian Review *
This attention to the centrality, and often intersensorality, of seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and touching in how we experience and interpret the external world, as Alexander Martins excellent introduction underscores, has led to new understanding of key historical questions ... [the book] offers new and enlightening ways to see and think about the experience of Russian and Soviet history. * Journal of Social History *
Fascinating ... I would recommend this book to anyone interested in Russian history and in the methodology of historical inquiry. I would also recommend it to skeptics and pragmatists, who can taste how not only historical fiction, but also historical scholarly works, can contribute to what Peter C. Hoffer called the highest purpose of historical scholarship: to make the past live again. * European Review of History *
The articles in the book are of uniformly high quality, each richly informative. * EuropeNow *
All the essays are lucidly written. * Slavonic and East European Review *
A significant contribution to the new history of the senses, this innovative volume offers a panoply of articles showcasing how attention to the senses touch, smell, sight, hearing, taste can open up new vistas on some three centuries of Russian history. From travelers experience of the cold climate in the eighteenth century or the cultural meanings of fermented, sour-tasting Russian rye bread through to soldiers and nurses sensory experience of war in the twentieth century, this collection takes readers on a veritable tour of modern Russia, exploring the making of national, imperial, social and gender identities as well as the sensory dimensions of memory, consumption, sociability, and state power. I recommended it to a broad readership. * Susan Morrissey, Professor of History, University of California, Irvine, USA *
Russian History through the Senses brings the sensations of the past to life but this volume also analyses them as a fascinating mirror of cultural meanings. In diverse and stimulating essays the authors make highly original contributions to histories of wars, empire, medicine, economics, cinema, and many other fields of Russian history. Fascinating and stimulating. * Dan Healey, Professor of Modern Russian History, Oxford University, UK *
The remarkable collection, with its wide ranging, well researched and theoretically informed essays on the experiences of the senses, complements our literature on emotions and is essential reading for everyone interested in Russian and Soviet subjectivity. * Joan Neuberger, University of Texas at Austin, USA *

Author Bio

Matthew P. Romaniello is Associate Professor of History at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, USA. He is the author of The Elusive Empire: Kazan and the Creation of Russia, 1552-1671 (2012), and the co-editor of three volumes, including Tobacco in Russian History and Culture from the Seventeenth Century to the Present (2009) with Tricia Starks. Tricia Starks is Associate Professor of History at the University of Arkansas, USA. She is the author of The Body Soviet: Propaganda, Hygiene and the Revolutionary State (2008) and is completing a monograph on smoking in modern Russia.