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5 New Books about Russia
Events of the 20th century are traditionally described through the lens of diplomacy, military campaigns
and statistics. Behind this macrohistorical perspective lies another level of understanding: microhistory.
The Bridge has compiled a selection of recently published books, based on letters, memoirs and diaries, that offer a fresh perspective on the 1917 revolutions and the Russian Civil War, as well as the Russian emigration, World War I and early-20th-century art. Microhistory can significantly improve our understanding of the past, revealing the diversity and contradictions of life strategies.
and statistics. Behind this macrohistorical perspective lies another level of understanding: microhistory.
The Bridge has compiled a selection of recently published books, based on letters, memoirs and diaries, that offer a fresh perspective on the 1917 revolutions and the Russian Civil War, as well as the Russian emigration, World War I and early-20th-century art. Microhistory can significantly improve our understanding of the past, revealing the diversity and contradictions of life strategies.
Memoirs of a Provincial Lawyer
(New Literary Observer, 2025)
Lev Filippovich Wolkenstein (1857-1935) was a Rostov lawyer in the late-19th and early-20th centuries, educated first at the Taganrog Gymnasium, where he studied alongside Anton Chekhov, and later at the law faculty of St. Petersburg University. Ironically describing himself as a “provincial,” the memoirist offers a detailed account of everyday life and legal practice in Rostov at the time, paying particular attention to the colorful criminal and civil cases he handled. A central theme of the memoirs is his Jewish identity. The narrative covers the events of the 1917 revolutions and the Civil War, as well as the author’s stay in Kislovodsk in 1918, when the city repeatedly changed hands between the Reds and the Whites. In 1921, Wolkenstein fled Soviet Russia, and his memoirs briefly describe his experience in emigration. The volume also includes Wolkenstein’s recollections of Chekhov and his letters to the writer.
(New Literary Observer, 2025)
Lev Filippovich Wolkenstein (1857-1935) was a Rostov lawyer in the late-19th and early-20th centuries, educated first at the Taganrog Gymnasium, where he studied alongside Anton Chekhov, and later at the law faculty of St. Petersburg University. Ironically describing himself as a “provincial,” the memoirist offers a detailed account of everyday life and legal practice in Rostov at the time, paying particular attention to the colorful criminal and civil cases he handled. A central theme of the memoirs is his Jewish identity. The narrative covers the events of the 1917 revolutions and the Civil War, as well as the author’s stay in Kislovodsk in 1918, when the city repeatedly changed hands between the Reds and the Whites. In 1921, Wolkenstein fled Soviet Russia, and his memoirs briefly describe his experience in emigration. The volume also includes Wolkenstein’s recollections of Chekhov and his letters to the writer.
1889-1917. Memories
(European University at St. Petersburg Press, 2025)
The memoirs of historian and writer
D.N. Fedotoff-White represent a unique and previously unpublished source containing invaluable information on prerevolutionary life in St. Petersburg, the everyday life of naval officers, military and civil service and interaction among different social estates, as well as the prerevolutionary mood of urban society. Fedotoff-White and his family were acquainted with many key figures of early-20th-century Russian history. The book contains numerous previously unknown details from the biographies of Russian naval officers and state officials. The events described cover the period 1889-1917 – from the author’s early childhood to the February Revolution. The manuscript was written in emigration from the late 1930s to 1945 in English, but it was never published either abroad or in Russia. The present edition is supplemented with commentary and illustrated with photographs and documents, including materials from a family archive belonging to descendants of the author’s younger brother who live in Russia.
(European University at St. Petersburg Press, 2025)
The memoirs of historian and writer
D.N. Fedotoff-White represent a unique and previously unpublished source containing invaluable information on prerevolutionary life in St. Petersburg, the everyday life of naval officers, military and civil service and interaction among different social estates, as well as the prerevolutionary mood of urban society. Fedotoff-White and his family were acquainted with many key figures of early-20th-century Russian history. The book contains numerous previously unknown details from the biographies of Russian naval officers and state officials. The events described cover the period 1889-1917 – from the author’s early childhood to the February Revolution. The manuscript was written in emigration from the late 1930s to 1945 in English, but it was never published either abroad or in Russia. The present edition is supplemented with commentary and illustrated with photographs and documents, including materials from a family archive belonging to descendants of the author’s younger brother who live in Russia.
Battle for Resources: The Great War in the Heart of Eurasia, 1917-1920
(European University at St. Petersburg Press, 2025)
The book examines revolutionary transformations on the Asian periphery of the former Russian Empire – a space where, amid the collapse of empires and the end of World War I, alternative political and social development scenarios were taking shape. The journey home for prisoners of war from the Central Powers proved no less dangerous than the path to the prisoner-of-war camps. Migrants from Central and Eastern Europe indeed played a distinctive role in Eurasia, participating in local conflicts and political transformations in ways that have few parallels in the history of total wars. The collection reconstructs their contribution to revolutionary change on the imperial periphery. The limited surviving sources – memoirs and documents – shed light on the motivations of individuals who once again took up arms far from home and on their perception of “non-European” realities. The volume reveals not only a mythology of being heroic saviors, but also personal ambitions and overlooked alternative scenarios of how events might have developed at the end of World War I.
(European University at St. Petersburg Press, 2025)
The book examines revolutionary transformations on the Asian periphery of the former Russian Empire – a space where, amid the collapse of empires and the end of World War I, alternative political and social development scenarios were taking shape. The journey home for prisoners of war from the Central Powers proved no less dangerous than the path to the prisoner-of-war camps. Migrants from Central and Eastern Europe indeed played a distinctive role in Eurasia, participating in local conflicts and political transformations in ways that have few parallels in the history of total wars. The collection reconstructs their contribution to revolutionary change on the imperial periphery. The limited surviving sources – memoirs and documents – shed light on the motivations of individuals who once again took up arms far from home and on their perception of “non-European” realities. The volume reveals not only a mythology of being heroic saviors, but also personal ambitions and overlooked alternative scenarios of how events might have developed at the end of World War I.
Correspondence of Ivan Ilyin and Nikolai Medtner (1915-1951)
(Russian Heritage Institute, 2026)
This three-volume correspondence between philosopher Ivan Ilyin and composer
Nikolai Medtner spans the period from 1915 to 1951 and includes around a thousand letters and postcards reflecting the life of the Russian émigré community. Geographically, the correspondence is distributed between Germany and Switzerland – where Ilyin lived in exile – and France and the United Kingdom, where Medtner resided. The first volume contains letters from 1915-1934, the second from 1935-1945, as well as Medtner’s closely related work The Muse and the Fashion, while the third includes letters from 1946-1951, along with correspondence between Ilyin and Medtner’s widow, A.M. Medtner, from 1951-1954.
(Russian Heritage Institute, 2026)
This three-volume correspondence between philosopher Ivan Ilyin and composer
Nikolai Medtner spans the period from 1915 to 1951 and includes around a thousand letters and postcards reflecting the life of the Russian émigré community. Geographically, the correspondence is distributed between Germany and Switzerland – where Ilyin lived in exile – and France and the United Kingdom, where Medtner resided. The first volume contains letters from 1915-1934, the second from 1935-1945, as well as Medtner’s closely related work The Muse and the Fashion, while the third includes letters from 1946-1951, along with correspondence between Ilyin and Medtner’s widow, A.M. Medtner, from 1951-1954.
Patriarch Alexy (Simansky)
(Molodaya Gvardiya, 2026)
The book is devoted to the patriarchate of Alexy I (Simansky) during the period from late Stalinism to the end of the Khrushchev era. His election as patriarch in 1945, against the backdrop of a temporary normalization of relations between the state and the Church, was followed by a renewed wave of state pressure in the late 1950s. His tenure is interpreted as a continuous effort to balance opportunities and constraints shaped by Soviet ideology. The key value of the publication lies in its sources. Alongside archival materials and official documents, the author makes extensive use of personal sources like diaries, letters and memoirs of contemporaries. These materials allow the book to move beyond conventional narratives and offer a more humanized understanding of church life in the mid-20th century.
(Molodaya Gvardiya, 2026)
The book is devoted to the patriarchate of Alexy I (Simansky) during the period from late Stalinism to the end of the Khrushchev era. His election as patriarch in 1945, against the backdrop of a temporary normalization of relations between the state and the Church, was followed by a renewed wave of state pressure in the late 1950s. His tenure is interpreted as a continuous effort to balance opportunities and constraints shaped by Soviet ideology. The key value of the publication lies in its sources. Alongside archival materials and official documents, the author makes extensive use of personal sources like diaries, letters and memoirs of contemporaries. These materials allow the book to move beyond conventional narratives and offer a more humanized understanding of church life in the mid-20th century.
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