This book is a history of Russian society as it evolved from the very beginnings of the Kievan period, through the end of serfdom in the 19th century. More particularly, it is a history of serfdom in Russia. Using many primary sources, the author examines trends in economics, agriculture and politics, to weave the tapestry of Russian development.

I was greatly impressed by the author's familiarity with his sources, and his subject. He made clear the organization of Russian society, and how it changed for the Russian people throughout the years. Scant attention is paid to wars and whatnot, except as they affected the development of Russian society itself, which is quite refreshing. My one complaint about the book is that it is somewhat dry reading, but it is an excellent resource for understanding pre-modern Russia.

This is a book that I would strongly recommend to anyone interested in Russian History.

No serious student of Russian or agrarian history can ignore this work. Blum, a prominent historian, set out to discover why serfdom in Russia was so abject and prolonged. Altogether a magisterial, highly readable work.

Kirkus Reviews describes Blum's volume as "detailed, if pedestrian, analysis". They're right. Yet by the sheer massing of detail Blum succeeds in drawing Europe's 1840s as the advent of the modern age. The prose is workmanlike, no more. Yet the subjects live, in a hundred little vignettes. Blum's immersion in them shows through.

And the decade itself is a perfect subject - close enough that we can see the similarities, long enough ago that few will be familiar with many of the details or the participants, and an age of technological and social transformation with some intriguing parallels to the times we live in. Take the British Railway Mania of 1845-1847:

"The delirium of the public provided a golden opportunity for unscrupulous promoters to announce the creation of a new railway company. The promoter needed only a map of Great Britain on which he drew a line connecting towns of some size. He had the map lithographed, printed a prospectus abounding in specious statistics, and ran glowing advertisements in the newspapers ... Shares were priced without reference to the property on which they were based ... Lawyers and engineers lined their pockets with the exorbitant fees they charged, contractors grew rich, and the promoters' advertising campaigns proved a bonanza to the press."

If you can't find an echo of the dot-com boom here, you haven't been paying attention.

Verdict: oddly satisfying for the reader with a casual interest in social and technological change.