Stephen M. Norris is Associate Professor of History at Miami University of Ohio. He is author of A War of Images: Russian Popular Prints, Wartime Culture, and National Identity and editor (with Helena Goscilo) of Preserving Petersburg: History, Memory, Nostalgia (IUP, 2008) and (with Zara Torlone) of Insiders and Outsiders in Russian Cinema (IUP, 2008). Willard Sunderland is Associate Professor of History at the University of Cincinnati and author of Taming the Wild Field: Colonization and Empire on the Russian Steppe.

This compilation of examples that spans 500 years of history and includes both the famous and the lesser known gives readers a more in-depth, personal understanding of how the inescapable existence of diversity in Russia and the Soviet Union related to everyday life . . . Highly recommended.(Choice) [T]his collection offers a fresh and lively approach to understanding how the various Russian empires have worked.(Slavic Review) [S]tudents of Russian empire would be well served with this work, given its snapshots of diverse imperial milieus and their attendant multicultural dialogues at the personal level. . . . this text will be a welcome tool for undergraduate use, especially for a survey course, since it spans Russian history even up to the twenty-first century.(SLAVIC AND EAST EUROPEAN JOURNAL) This book will engage students with its lively narratives of figures from the past, serve teachers with varied examples reflecting the diversity of the empire, and challenge researchers to think about the difficulties of restoring the individual to broad narratives. The editors and the contributors are to be complimented for their accomplishment.(The Russian Review) There is an enormous amount to like in this volume, which will be a boon to students aswell as scholars.(Slavonica)

• AcknowledgmentsChronologyMapsIntroduction by Stephen M. Norris and Willard Sunderland1. Ermak, 1530s/40s-1585 Willard Sunderland2. Simeon Bekbulatovich, ?-1616 Donald Ostrowski3. Timofei Ankudinov, 1609-1653 Maureen Perrie4. Gavril Romanov Nikitin, -1698" Erika Monahan5. Boris Kurakin, 1676-1727 Ernest Zitser6. Mikhail Lomonosov, 1711-1765 Michael Gordin7. Catherine the Great, 1729-1796 Hilde Hoogenboom8. Petr Bagration 1765-1812 Sean Pollock9. Johannes Ambrosius Rosenstrauch, 1768-1835 Alexander Martin10. Imam Shamil, 1797-1871 Rebecca Gould11. Zalumma Agra, 1864 Charles King12. Adam Mickiewicz, 1798-1855 Ted Weeks13. Archbishop Innokentii, 1800-1857 Mara Kozelsky14. Nikolai Gogol, 1809-1852 Edyta Bojanowska15. Anton Rubenstein, 1829-1894 Richard Stites16. Aleksandr Borodin, 1833-1887 Dave Schimmelpenninck17. Kutlu-Muhammed Tevkelev and Family (1850-?) Charles Steinwedel18. P.A. Badmaev, 1851-1919 David McDonald19. Ekaterina Sabashnikova-Baranovskaia, 1859-? Barbara Alpern Engel20. Carl Gustav Emil Mannerheim, 1867-1951 Bradley Woodworth21. Matilde Kshesinskaia, 1872-1971 Krista Sigler22. Joseph Stalin, 1879-1953 Ron Suny23. Anna Akhmatova, 1889-1966 Alexandra Harrington24. Aleksandr Germano, 1893-1955 Brigid O'Keeffe25. Lazar Kaganovich, 1893-1991 Hiroaki Kuromiya26. Dziga Vertov, 1896-1954 John MacKay27. Mukhtar Auezov, 1897-1961 Michael Rouland28. Jahon Obidova, 1900-1967 Marianne Kamp29. Olzhas Suleimenov, 1936- Marlene Laruelle30. Boris Akunin (Grigorii Chkhartishvili), 1956 Stephen Norris31. Vladislav Surkov, 1964- Karen DawishaNotesList of ContributorsIndex