Modernizing Muscovy

Book excerpt: First Published in 2004. Modernizing Muscovy is a comprehensive account of seventeenth-century Russian history. It rejects the traditional interpretation of this era as the twilight of the Russian Middle Ages. By revealing important instances of dynamic change in the late Muscovite state, economy, and society, the book demonstrates the crucial importance of pre-Petrine reform in Russia’s transition to one of the great powers of the world. The book’s broad scope makes it a veritable encyclopaedia of late Muscovite history. It both synthesizes previous scholarship and breaks new ground in many important areas.