This overview of Russian women's history follows a broadly chronological sequence. Each section opens by focusing on women who were part of the ruling elite in each era, whether as rulers, consorts, or forces behind the scenes, giving an insight into their power and influence. Among well-known figures are Catherine the Great and Sofia, half-sister of Peter the Great, who was imprisoned in a convent after her failed coup. The book also relates the lives of less familiar women like the wealthy 16th-century Musovite Feodosia Morozova who gave up a life of riches in which her every excursion was accompanied by a suite of 200 servants to become a nun and devote herself to the ppor, and Praskovia Kovaleva, a serf and blacksmith's daughter, who rose to fame as a singer in the 18th century and embarked on a forbidden affair with the theatre manager Sheremetev, who subsequently freed all her family. Alongside these individual women's lives, the author discusses the customs and practices of each era, such as Russian medieval marriage cememonies, which attempted to blend pagan and Christian beliefs and practices, and the way in which the terem, or women's quarters, operated to protect women in the late Middle Ages. Later sections of the book look at the gradual Westernization of women's dress and behaviour, and examine attempts to improve their education.
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From Library Journal
To counter stereotypes held by Westerners about Russian women, researcher Pushkareva has written a history of women in her native country that spans the period from Kievan Rus to the fall of the Soviet Union. Although not totally successful in dispelling the notion of women's bleak existence in that part of the world, she does reveal many interesting aspects of the lives of her subjects. She emphasizes the power of the Russian Orthodox Church and peasant tradition in limiting female participation in society, and she highlights areas of achievement, particularly in the realm of property and judicial rights. Her work is strongest in its depiction of the pre-Moscovite period and weakest in its assessment of 20th-century society. Little space is given to specific women outside the elite class, and there is an overload of fashion description. The first published history of women in this region, this is recommended as an addition to public and academic libraries.?Rose Cichy, Osterhout Free Lib., Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
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