Eurasian Environments

Eurasian Environments not only offers a great diversity of approaches to environmental history but also displays new ways of making Russian imperial and Soviet history from the study of human and nonhuman worlds, local knowledge, cultures, and practices that reveal the great potential for enhancing multidisciplinary research in this field.

This innovative collection explores the specific varieties and unifying themes of three centuries of Imperial Russian and Soviet environmental history. By examining political, economic, and cultural experiences in the multiple limiting contexts of climate, flora and fauna, it offers fascinating insights into major themes in Russian and Soviet history, including empire-building, socialist construction, industrialization, relations between dominant and sub-altern groups, and more. Authored by an international cast of leading scholars, it functions both as an introduction to the field and a general overview of the latest research.

Whereas many earlier studies of the Soviet environment focused on national-level policies and decision-making emanating from Moscow or the capitals of the Soviet republics, the cases presented in this volume bring to light how societies were transformed and affected in their interactions with the natural environment. Many of the essays underscore the tension between imperial goals and the environmental realities faced by the different populations.