September 04, 2023

Endre Sashalmi, "Russian Notions of Power and State in a European Perspective, 1462-1725: Assessing the Significance of Peter's Reign" (Academic Studies Press, 2022)

1 hour 2 minutes

Endre Sashalmi's book Russian Notions of Power and State in a European Perspective, 1462-1725: Assessing the Significance of Peter's Reign (Academic Studies Press, 2022) highlights the main features and trends of Russian “political” thought in an era when sovereignty, state, and politics, as understood in Western Christendom, were non-existent in Russia, or were only beginning to be articulated. It concentrates on enigmatic authors and sources that shaped official perception of rulership, or marked certain changes of importance of this perception. Special emphasis is given to those written and visual sources that point towards depersonalization and secularization of rulership in Russia. A comparison with Western Christendom frames the argument throughout the book, both in terms of ideas and the practical aspects of state-building, allowing the reader to ponder Russia’s differentia specifica.

Endre Sashalmi is a professor of history at the Department of Medieval and Early Modern History at the University of Pécs (Hungary), and is a doctor of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. His main fields of academic interest and research are comparisons of Western and Russian political thought and political iconography from the 15th to the 18th century, as well as the issue of state formation in Russia and in early modern Europe.

Steven Usitalo is a specialist in Russian and Soviet history, modern genocide studies, and the history of film. He is the recipient of several research grants. He co-edited an anthology on Russian history and published a monograph on the Russian polymath Mikhail Lomonosov. Dr. Usitalo is finishing a substantially revised Russian translation of his book on Mikhail Lomonosov. His research focuses on two areas: Russian/Soviet and Armenian film, and the history of the Roma in Imperial Russia and the Soviet Union. When time allows, he is at work on a study of the genocide of the Roma peoples on Soviet territory during World War II.

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