A Public Empire (ebook)

Argumento de A Public Empire (ebook)

"Somewhere between state and private property in Russia stood a world of public property, which we knew very little about. In this book, Pravilova fills this gap and shows us why it was so glaring. Pravilova demonstrates that societies can carve out and protect spaces that are quasi-autonomous from the state, and promote a collective existence, a public good, and a public sphere. Not all liberal modernities need be individualistic. A masterful work of research in many archival holdings, countries, and languages, her groundbreaking book changes the debate over Russian property regimes and Russian liberalism."--Yanni Kotsonis, New York University

"An impressive achievement, this distinct book traces the contours of the debates over public property from the early nineteenth century down to the collapse of the Russian empire. Pravilova's admirable attention to Russian law is always nuanced, careful, and sensitive. Interweaving compelling analysis with broader debates in Russian and European history, this is an accomplished and mature work."--Peter Holquist, University of Pennsylvania

"A Public Empire fundamentally recasts conceptions about property rights in Russia. This dynamic and provocative study pioneers a new and promising direction in Russian history. Pravilova's chapters on defining property in art, religious items, monuments, and manuscripts are utterly novel. No future scholar of late imperial Russia and the beginnings of the USSR will be able to ignore this book."--Jane Burbank, New York University

"[An] engrossing study. . . . These questions are meant as tributes to what is clearly a major and agenda-setting work, whose discussion will greatly sharpen our understanding of Russia’s past."--John Randolph, American Historical Review

"A short review cannot do justice to this fine, meticulously researched, and well-written book. It is essential reading for all historians of imperial and Soviet Russia."--Michelle Lamarche Marrese, Russian Review

Winner of the 2015 Historia Nova Prize, Mikhail Prokhorov Foundation and Academic Studies Press
Winner of the George L. Mosse Prize 2015, American Historical Association
Winner of the 2015 Wayne S. Vucinich Book Prize, Association for Slavic, East European, & Eurasian Studies
Honorable Mention for the 2015 J. Willard Hurst Book Prize, Law and Society Association
Longlisted for the 2015 Historia Nova Prize, Mikhail Prokhorov Foundation and Academic Studies Press

"Even an extended review cannot do justice to this book’s wealth of thought-provoking insights."--Adele Lindenmeyr, Slavic Review

"Pravilova provides a nuanced analysis of the shifting nature of debates, concepts, and laws concerning public and private property in the Russian Empire from the late 18th century to the revolutions of 1917. . . . Challenging familiar narratives that couple liberalism with the defense of individual private property rights, she provides abundant evidence of a liberal vision that was not exclusively individualistic."--Choice

"A lively text that is readily accessible to those with a non-legal history background. This is a rich, ambitious and complex project, which cuts across any number of traditional cultural and political boundaries; Pravilova switches adeptly from irrigation in Central Asia and Transcaucasia, to the preservation of churches in the Russian north, to the public’s right to read posthumously published correspondence."--Jennifer Keating, Slavonic and East European Review0Acknowledgments vii
Abbreviations xi
Introduction: Res Publica in the Imperial State 1
PART I
Whose Nature? Environmentalism, Industrialization, and the Politics of Property 19
1. The Meanings of Property 21
2. Forests, Minerals, and the Controversy over Property in Post-Emancipation Russia 55
3. Nationalizing Rivers, Expropriating Lands 93
PART II
The Treasures of the Fatherland 129
4. Inventing National Patrimony 131
5. Private Possessions and National Art 178
PART III
"Estates on Parnassus": Literary Property and Cultural Reform 213
6. Writers and the Audience: Legal Provisions and Public Discourse 215
7. The Private Letters of National Literature 241
Epilogue 270
Notes 291
Index 403