To See Russian History as Part of the Pan-European Continuum

Abstract

The author reviews a book by Nancy Shields Kollmann, a well-known specialist in the history of early-modern Russia and professor at Stanford University (California, USA). The book is a vast study of the judicial proceedings and enforcement of sentences in Russia between the 15th and early 18th centuries. The reviewer analyses the structure of the book, its methods, and the narrative: he focuses on Kollmann’s basic concept, according to which Russia should be regarded as part of the all-European continuum. This conclusion is of considerable importance for understanding Russian history. The reviewer argues that Russian academia should pay close attention to the work as it contains many valuable factual materials and interesting observations. Another factor that the reviewer considers relevant is that the author’s principles of work and the peculiarities of her representation of the material differ from the traditions of Russian historical scholarship. However, the translation tends to be literal. This book about “crime and punishment” is an important step for understanding the sociopolitical peculiarities of Russia’s development in the early modern period.