Origins of the Russian Intelligentsia: The Eighteenth-Century Nobility

This is a superb book. It was already a classic when I was in college circa 1970, and I wish I'd read it then (as a Russian major) -- it explains so much that I've had to pick up in bits and pieces as I read my way through Russian history and literature. It's a short book and probably too sweeping in its conclusions, but it's better to have a clear idea that's essentially correct (the intelligentsia came out of the frustrated service ideals of the Russian eighteenth-century nobility) -- you can always refine the details later. If you have any interest in the topic, read this book.

This is an excellent book explaining how Peter the Great changed the relationship between the nobility and the Emperor. These changes turned the nobility from its state of rural complacency to service to the Tsar. This led to more contact with Western Europe and the Enlightenment thinkers. More breakdown of old customs eventually led to the problems of the Nineteenth Century.

Copyright 1966, by Harcourt Brace Javanovich.