Russia’s Age of Serfdom 1649-1861 offers a broad interpretive history of the Russian Empire from the time of serfdom’s codification until its abolition following the Crimean War.

• Considers the institution of serfdom, official social categories, and Russia’s development as a country of peasants ruled by nobles, military commanders, and civil servants
• Illuminates the reality of absolute monarchy in Russia, with special emphasis on the mobilization of human and material resources, the search for regular government, and the persistence of personal-moral forms of authority
• Traces the emergence of modern Russian culture out of and alongside Orthodox religious culture

Elise Kimerling Wirtschafter is Professor of History at California State Polytechnic University in Pomona. Her previous books include: From Serf to Russian Soldier (1990); Structures of Society: Imperial Russia’s “People of Various Ranks” (1994); Social Identity in Imperial Russia (1997); and The Play of Ideas in Russian Enlightenment Theater (2003).