Abstract
Review of the Book: Ch.J. Halperin. Ivan the Terrible: Free to Reward and Free to Punish
Highlights
In Ivan the Terrible: Free to Reward and Free to Punish, Charles Halperin brings together his many years of research, study, and reflection on Ivan IV, a ruler who presided over important and lasting reforms in Russia in the mid-sixteenth century and led the conquest of the Volga khanates of Kazan and Astrakhan
Charles Halperin on Ivan the Terrible addresses his infamous subject with a precision, erudition, clarity, and understanding that should come as no surprise to anyone in the field of Muscovite history
The case is persuasively made, yet one might counter that the perception of threat is what is, most important and that young, orphaned Ivan’s subjective perception might have been acute even where actual threat was objectively minimal. While it is true, as Halperin helpfully reminds us, that other rulers of the time, Elizabeth I, for example, endured worse in their youth with no signs of trauma in later life, it is a tricky business to compare how different individuals respond to similar circumstances, especially taking into consideration a multiplicity of factors sure to influence response, including temperament, gender, family relations and support, and political culture
Summary
In Ivan the Terrible: Free to Reward and Free to Punish, Charles Halperin brings together his many years of research, study, and reflection on Ivan IV, a ruler who presided over important and lasting reforms in Russia in the mid-sixteenth century and led the conquest of the Volga khanates of Kazan and Astrakhan. Charles Halperin on Ivan the Terrible addresses his infamous subject with a precision, erudition, clarity, and understanding that should come as no surprise to anyone in the field of Muscovite history.
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