Customer Reviews:
 On the ground in pre-Revolutionary Russian villages September 1, 2008
I do not possess enough professional knowledge to critique the accuracy of the work or quality of compilation. However, as a professional Russian translator who has traveled in Russia and continues to study its culture, I found this a fascinating look by an early ethnographer into daily life in Russian villages. The translation is clear and very readable, well-supplemented with notes and many photographs. The authors compiled this book from a great deal of related documents left by Tian-Shanskaya, and made use of other related ethnographic work. They include explanations of the sources where appropriate, which gives the book and added value: the reader gets a sense of how this unified book of her work was patched together. They give a good overview of the contemporary context of her work and of the 'peasant question'. In addition, they explain what they perceive as the influence of her own ideals and values upon the interpretation of peasant behavior, and compare it to later theories (for example, where she reports chronic 'squandering' of surpluses, they compare it to later theories of the peasants' perception of a limited world of resources and the importance of investing in status within the social network of the village). The book contains many overheard conversations and remarks among peasants. All in all, a pearl of a book, in my opinion.
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