This volume offers the first comprehensive guide in English to the myth and legend of the Russian Empire and other Slavic countries and peoples. There are few stories more stirring than those of ancient Russia. Russian and other Slavic beliefs weave a rich tapestry in which real-world elements coexist with those from fantasy, such as dragons, monsters, and shape-changing wolves. Though Russia adopted Christianity as the state religion in A.D. 988, paganism remained popular through the end of the 19th century and survives in isolated pockets even today. In Russian myth and legend, Christian themes are interwoven with pagan ideas: dragons fight priests, saints encounter nymphs, and witches enter the kingdom of heaven. Encyclopedia of Russian and Slavic Myth and Legend includes extensive historical, geographical, and biographical background to deepen the reader's understanding of the myth and legend. Numerous illustrations are included in this fascinating volume, which will be of great interest to students, scholars, and everyone who wishes to explore the cultural heritage of ancient Russia.

Cover -- Half Title -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- ONE: Searching for Enlightenment -- PART I: Wisdom and Wickedness, 1500-1689 -- TWO: God and Politics in Muscovy -- THREE: A Question of Legitimacy -- FOUR: Visions of the State at Mid-Century -- FIVE: Church and Politics in Late Muscovy -- PART II: Ways of Virtue, 1689-1762 -- SIX: Church, State, and Society under Peter -- SEVEN: Virtue and Politics after Peter -- PART III: Straining toward Light, 1762-1801 -- EIGHT: Catherine II and Enlightenment -- NINE: Nikita Panin and Imperial Power

This book, first published in 1971, is a close analysis of some of the typical peasant uprisings of the seventeenth century. The goal of the movements in France and China was a return to an older and more traditional society, rather than a profound transformation of the social structure. In Russia, however, the peasants attempted to overturn the rigid order of a two-class structure and replace it with a more democratic society.

This new edition retains the features of the first edition that made it a popular choice in universities and colleges throughout the US, Canada and around the world. Moss's accessible history includes full treatment of everyday life, the role of women, rural life, law, religion, literature and art. In addition, it provides many other features that have proven successful, including: a well-organized and clearly written text, references to varying historical perspectives, numerous illustrations and maps, fully updated bibliographies accompanying each chapter as well as a general bibliography, a glossary, and chronological and genealogical lists.

A feast of sensuality, Payne's third epic novel narrates the story of the beautiful young Nadja, and her brooding lover Nikolai, as the two come of age in a springtime garden. When their world of earthly delights fades with the dying season, the two are exiled from their pastoral romance into a fiery world of seedy urban haunts, intoxicated dreams and electric lights. When tragedy heralds the birth of a new day, light is shed on everyone's fate as the greatest adventure of all begins: a cunning swindler sets off on a heroic voyage to find the love of his youth. Through tears of hope and despair, the landscape of this novel unfolds before us in a vast panorama of poetic prose, delighting the senses and the imagination about what is possible, what is beautiful, and what is maddening about this world. ""Charged with passion, these pages sing to us their erotic melancholy; 'Hope and Despair' is both loving and frightening, a pleasure to read once and again!""