In The Merchants of Siberia, Erika Monahan reconsiders commerce in early modern Russia by reconstructing the trading world of Siberia and the careers of merchants who traded there. She follows the histories of three merchant families from various social ranks who conducted trade in Siberia for well over a century. These include the Filat'evs, who were among Russia's most illustrious merchant elite; the Shababins, Muslim immigrants who mastered local and long-distance trade while balancing private endeavors with service to the Russian state; and the Noritsyns, traders of more modest status who worked sometimes for themselves, sometimes for bigger merchants, and participated in the emerging Russia-China trade. Monahan demonstrates that trade was a key component of how the Muscovite state sought to assert its authority in the Siberian periphery. The state's recognition of the benefits of commerce meant that Russian state- and empire-building in Siberia were characterized by accommodation; in this diverse borderland, instrumentality trumped ideology and the Orthodox state welcomed Central Asian merchants of Islamic faith. This reconsideration of Siberian trade invites us to rethink Russia’s place in the early modern world. The burgeoning market at Lake Yamysh, an inner-Eurasian trading post along the Irtysh River, illuminates a vibrant seventeenth-century Eurasian caravan trade even as Europe-Asia maritime trade increased. By contextualizing merchants and places of Siberian trade in the increasingly connected economies of the early modern period, Monahan argues that, commercially speaking, Russia was not the "outlier" that most twentieth-century characterizations portrayed.

In Bukhara and the Muslims of Russia Allen Frank examines the relationship between Muslims in Russia and the city of Bukhara, examining paradoxes emerging the city’s Sufism-based Islamic prestige, and the emergence of Islamic reformism in Russia.

A fascinating story of spiritual survival. The cultural and national reawakening that has accompanied the resurgence of Islam in Russia has contributed to the revival and renewal of Islamic thought throughout the Muslim world. The author explores how Islam vis-a-vis Russian Orthodox Christianity shaped national, political and cultural developments in the vast region of European Russia and Siberia. This volume thus presents an analysis of the history, development and future prospects for Islam in Russia based on exhaustive research of the primary and secondary sources as well as the author's own personal experience.

A new translation into modern American English directly from the original Russian manuscript. This edition contains an Afterword by the translator, a timeline of Tolstoy's life and works, and a glossary of philosophic terminology used throughout Tolstoy's literature and philosophy. Resurrection (1899) by Leo Tolstoy is the last novel written by Tolstoy. It follows the transformation of the wealthy nobleman, Prince Dmitri Nekhlyudov. When Nekhlyudov serves on a jury, he encounters a woman named Katusha, who was once a servant on his family estate and is now a prisoner. Stricken with guilt over his role in her downfall, Nekhlyudov embarks on a spiritual and moral journey to seek redemption and help Katusha find justice. "Resurrection" addresses social injustice, the complexities of morality, and the potential for personal transformation and ethical awakening. The novel's literary and philosophical merits lie in its social commentary, ethical reflections, and profound exploration of human conscience and the quest for moral responsibility. This is the last book of Tolstoy's life - the culmination of his multifaceted career as a writer, philosopher and publicist. It represents his profound reflections on the meaning of human existence and serves as a farewell and spiritual testament. This work was preceded by several collections, namely 'Thoughts of the Wise', 'Reading Circle' and 'For Each Day', which contained the wisdom of prominent individuals from around the world. This last work marks the culmination of Tolstoy's religious and spiritual quest. It highlights the similarity between the concept of 'spiritual' and that of 'God' in different religious traditions. Tolstoy reintroduces the notion of freeing the soul from the obstacles that hinder love of humanity and awareness of one's own divinity. These obstacles include sins (indulging bodily desires), temptations (false notions of the good), and superstitions (misleading doctrines that justify sins and temptations). The early chapters of the book deal with topics such as faith, the soul, the interconnectedness of all souls, God and love. Tolstoy then explores the destructive forces of sin, temptation, superstition, parasitism, greed, anger, pride, inequality, violence, punishment and vanity. These chapters represent Tolstoy's recognition of the inner conflict between the animal and spiritual aspects of humanity. In later sections he argues that false faith and misguided science distort the true meaning of life, causing the soul to be obscured and delayed by sin, temptation and superstition. In an affront to his mentor Schopenhauer, Tolstoy writes a life-affirming conclusion

"Sevastopol Sketches (Sebastopol Sketches)" is a collection of three works of historical fiction in which Tolstoy draws upon his real life experiences during the Siege of Sevastopol. The titular location draws its name from that of a city in Crimea and takes place during the Crimean war. The three tales in this collection are respectively titled "Sevastopol in December", "Sevastopol in May", and "Sevastopol in August". In the December tale Tolstoy introduces us to Sevastopol by giving the reader a tour and introducing us to the settings, mannerisms, and background that would relevant in the following tales. In the May tale Tolstoy examines the senselessness of war, musings that would lay the foundation for his much larger work and magnum opus "War and Peace." In the third and final tale the fall of the town is detailed. Published in 1855 "Sevastopol" was written near the beginning of the author's literary career. It is a book in which we begin to see the writer exhibit a quality of prose that would one day establish him as the greatest of all writers in the Russian and any other language.