Bøger af James Cracraft

Professor James Cracraft is an established specialist on early modern Russian history, particularly the era of Peter the Great (1682-1725), tsar and first Russian emperor.

In his new book, Two Shining Souls, James Cracraft explores the decades-long encounter of Jane Addams, the famous American social reformer and peace activist, with Leo Tolstoy, the acclaimed Russian writer and sage. He documents Tolstoy's influence in Progressive-era America and particularly on Addams's career, citing previously unknown or neglected sources. In addition to her study of Tolstoy's writingshis now largely forgotten religious tracts more than his celebrated fictionAddams traveled to Russia to see him personally, a meeting that is recounted in detail. Late in her life, Addams described Tolstoy as a rare ';shining soul,' a term, Cracraft suggests, that applies equally well to her. His book adds an enduring religious dimension to Addams's rich legacy while newly delimiting, by contrast, the legacy of Tolstoy.The story of Addams and Tolstoy brings into focus issues of continuing public concern, including the often conflicting demands on the individualparticularly womenof family and society; the legitimacy of violence in pursuit of political aims; the problem of poverty; the role of government in social reform; and the place of religion in both public and private life. The distinctive ways in which these emblematic figures dealt with such controversial issues offer insights that may be valuable even today.Yet the single most important link between Addams and Tolstoy was their preoccupation with the question of peace, which they understood as a value subsuming all other values or goods. So Two Shining Souls is also about the invention and spread of ';pacifism' in 19th-century Europe and America and the great crisis in its history precipitated by World War I.

The reforms initiated by Peter the Great transformed Russia not only into a European power, but into a European culture--a shift, argues Cracraft, that was nothing less than revolutionary. The author of seminal works on visual culture in the Petrine era, Cracraft now turns his attention to the changes that occurred in Russian verbal culture.

Many books chronicle the remarkable life of Peter the Great, but none analyze how his famous reforms took root and spread in Russia. By century's end, Russia was poised to play a critical role in the Napoleonic wars and boasted an elite culture on the cusp of its golden age. Here, Cracraft offers a brilliant new interpretation of this pivotal era.