cover image Russia Under Western Eyes: From the Bronze Horseman to the Lenin Mausoleum

Russia Under Western Eyes: From the Bronze Horseman to the Lenin Mausoleum

Martin Edward Malia. Belknap Press, $37.5 (528pp) ISBN 978-0-674-78120-7

Malia, an emeritus professor of history at UC-Berkeley, traces Western perceptions of Russia from Peter the Great to the disintegration of the Soviet Union, paying special attention to how the West's view of Russia has shifted not just as a reaction to changes in Russia but to changes within Europe as well. Europe has viewed Russia as either enlightened and progressive (during the reign of Catherine the Great and the early Soviet period) or as despotic and backward (under Nicholas I and Stalin). Malia persuasively argues how these changes in the West's perception of Russia have been due as much to shifts in European politics and thought, such as the revolutions of 1848 and the transformation from the Enlightenment to Romanticism, as to changes within Russia itself. Unfortunately, Malia can be long-winded (an analysis of Hegelian philosophy, for example, delves into much greater detail than necessary), and his writing, which is usually lively and evocative, occasionally lapses into literary pretentiousness. A prologue to the chapter on the Soviet period takes the form of a Greek drama with a cast of Soviet leaders and poets and ends with a twist on Alice in Wonderland: Russia is the Red Queen (or in Malia's words, ""Red Khan""), which ""really was a kitten, after all."" Despite these weaknesses, Malia's comprehensive and accessible history of Russia will interest scholars and general readers alike. (Apr.)