Politics and Culture in Eighteenth-Century Russia : Collected Essays by Isabel de Madariaga

This is a collection of thirteen major essays, four never before published, by one of the most distinguished Western historians of 18th century Russia.

These are not just random pieces but a broad and readable study which challenges the conventional view of imperial Russia as a semi-barbaric outsider on the periphery of continental Europe.

Themes covered include Autocracy and Sovereignty, civil rights, serfdom, penal policy, freemasonry educational reform, and Catherine the Great.