How Russia Shaped the Modern World: From Art to Anti-Semitism, Ballet to Bolshevism

by Steven G. Marks

Book Overview

In this sweeping history, Steven Marks tells the fascinating story of how Russian figures, ideas, and movements changed our world in dramatic but often unattributed ways.

On Europe's periphery, Russia was an early modernizing nation whose troubles stimulated intellectuals to develop radical and utopian alternatives to Western models of modernity. These provocative ideas gave rise to cultural and political innovations that were exported...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0691118450
• ISBN13: 9780691118451
• Release Date: January 2004
• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Length: 408 Pages
• Weight: 0.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.1" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Brilliant book

The brilliance of the analytical insights and accuracy of the fine-grained historical detail in this book are unrivaled. Highly recommended for anyone interested not just in Russian history, but in the shaping of the modern world.

Straddling the Continents

I purchased, "How Russia Shaped the Modern World" at the New York Public Library's stunning exhibit on "Russia Engages the World." The show covered Russia primarily in the 17th and 18th century so I thought I'd take a leap forward and read this book."Russia" covers a lot of ground including subjects ranging from anarchism to painting and shows the impact of Russian ideas on authors in the United States as well as dictators in Africa. Frequently, I found myself wanting more from a discussion about an artist or a movement but the purpose of the book is to chart influences and make connections not to detail specific movements and individuals. Russia is unique in that it brings together both European and Asian influences commingling the foreign with the familiar that is so intriguing to cultures around the world.I found the book most compelling when it looked at Russian literature, dance and painting. There are several reasons for this. First, the arts are full of hope, originality, vision and joy. Second, the story of how Russian artists influenced the rest of the world is unfamiliar to me. Third, Russia's political influence has been largely harsh, destructive, sad and all too familiar to someone who lived through the cold war.The prose style is more analytic than descriptive and incisive but not personal. I think it fits the subject matter but borders on the dry side. My biggest complaint is that the book could have been divided into two sections, one that focused on the Russian artistic contributions and the other on the political. The impact of each of those areas is different and would have benefited from separate but rigorous analysis.

A compelling new look at Russia's impact on the modern world

How Russia Shaped the Modern World is a significant work of historical research and synthesis which will have a major impact not only on the field of Soviet history but on how historians understand the cultural history of the 20th century as a whole. Marks' project examines the multifarious influences Russia and the Soviet Union have had on the political, cultural, and artistic development of the world. The scope of the work is very broad, yet his research on every aspect of the topic is painstakingly careful and thorough, drawing on primary and secondary sources in Russian, German, French, Dutch, and English. Marks is skillful at tracing subtle intellectual influences and elusive cultural connections; in the process, he illuminates the broad, transnational frames of reference within which many of this century's most important ideological and artistic movements developed. His explorations of topics such as the links among Tolstoy, Gandhi, and the American civil rights movement, the impact of Dostoevsky on the modernist movement, and the connections among Kropotkin, the British arts and crafts movement, and the development of modern suburbia, generate powerful new insights that separate monographs on each of these topics could never produce. Marks' treatment of European and global popular reception of Russian thinkers and his analysis of how the interpretation and misinterpretation of their works contributed to the shaping of contemporary cultural history, stands out as an example of the originality and importance of his work. What is perhaps most impressive about the book is the intellectual cohesion that informs the author's treatment of this wide range of topics. What emerges from his work is a picture of a Russia whose tremendous impact on global development during this past century was derived precisely from its own highly ambivalent response to the Western model of modernization. Both in rejecting the socio-cultural paradigm of modernity and in embracing it, Russia and the Soviet Union developed distinctive modes of expression and methods of political organization that became paradigmatic examples in their own right, both in the West and in the non-European world. This approach places the history of communism in a much broader frame of understanding and provides a vital analytical tool for an overarching analysis of contemporary cultural history. It constitutes one of those original insights that have the power to change the way we view the past. Moreover, it represents a significant contribution to the methodology of cultural history: Marks illuminates how the transmission and appropriation of ideas can cut across political and ideological boundaries, while at the same time exploring how the development of transnational cultural influences was shaped by particular political institutions, power differentials, and socio-economic conditions.In brief, this book offers a compelling new perspective on Russia's role in shaping global culture and p

Original and convincing

Steven Marks has written a most original book. While historians almost invariably deal with western influences on Russia, he is the first to demonstrate that there was also a reverse process, especially from the late nineteenth century on. He traces these influences in the fields of politics (revolutionary terrorism and anarchism), psychology (Dostoevsky), religion (Tolstoyanism), destructive Judeophobia (The so-called "Protocols of the Elders of Zion") as well as modern ballet, theater, and design. The two concluding chapters deal with the influence of Communism on Fascism and National-Socialism. While these two chapters are somewhat weakened by the author's ambivalent attitude toward the concept of totalitarianism," they nevertheless provide useful evidence to validate it. In all, an impressive achievement.

Don't be Put off by the Title

Don't be put off by the title, this book by Steven Marks covers new ground which should please both academics and the general public. While the thesis behind the book at first seems all encompassing, each chapter builds a case in detail bringing together several seemingly unrelated strands.The book is well researched and very readable. It makes accessible little known facts about anarchists, expressionism, dance and politics. The chapter on the origins of the Protocols of Zion is not to be missed, Marks objectively tells the story of the single most influential Anti Semitic documents of the 20th Century.I'd recommend this book as an addition to both a personal library and/or a college level text.