FROM THE BEGINNINGS TO THE EMPIRE OF PETER THE GREAT

The first of three volumes to be published in successive seasons which will comprise ""the most comprehensive history of Russia ever to be published in English,"" a valid publisher claim in view of currently available general studies. The work, authored by Russians who left their homeland following the Revolution (Miliukov was Foreign Minister in the Kerensky Government) is scholarly without being pedantic, although it lacks the acerbic, assertive distinction of Pares' History. The authors see Russia as a European power, turned from the Continent by the Tartar conquest (which influenced results, not origins), returned to it by Peter the Great. They characterize the land, the prehistory; proceed chronologically, expanding their study from the Fifteenth Century onward as greater documentation permits. Their interest lies more with internal affairs (socio-economic, intellectual) than foreign policy. Their treatment of major issues does not radically differ from Pares, although it is more extended and less individualistic (the multiple authorship? translation?); it will obviously also extend further in time beyond the Stalinist era. An addition, not a replacement.