E. Anthony Swift is a Lecturer in the History Department at the University of Essex.

"The fullest and most interesting account of how the Russian public seized upon the theater as an art form, as entertainment, and as an instrument of popular education. Swift makes Ostrovsky, Stanislavsky, Chekhov, and Tolstoy come alive, bringing great clarity to the larger context in which Russia's great dramatists thought about theater, its audience, and its functions."-Jeffrey Brooks, author of When Russia Learned to Read: Literacy and Popular Literature, 1861-1917

• List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Note on Transliteration and Dates Introduction Chapter One: The Urban Theatrical Landscape Chapter Two: People's Theater and Cultural Politics Chapter Three: Censorship and Repertoire Chapter Four: Theater, Temperance, and Popular Culture Chapter Five: Workers' Theater, Proletarian Culture, and Respectability Chapter Six: The People at the Theater: Audience Reception Conclusion Epilogue Appendix of Titles Notes Bibliography Index

E. Anthony Swift is a Lecturer in the History Department at the University of Essex.

"The fullest and most interesting account of how the Russian public seized upon the theater as an art form, as entertainment, and as an instrument of popular education. Swift makes Ostrovsky, Stanislavsky, Chekhov, and Tolstoy come alive, bringing great clarity to the larger context in which Russia's great dramatists thought about theater, its audience, and its functions."-Jeffrey Brooks, author of When Russia Learned to Read: Literacy and Popular Literature, 1861-1917

• List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Note on Transliteration and Dates Introduction Chapter One: The Urban Theatrical Landscape Chapter Two: People's Theater and Cultural Politics Chapter Three: Censorship and Repertoire Chapter Four: Theater, Temperance, and Popular Culture Chapter Five: Workers' Theater, Proletarian Culture, and Respectability Chapter Six: The People at the Theater: Audience Reception Conclusion Epilogue Appendix of Titles Notes Bibliography Index

E. Anthony Swift is a Lecturer in the History Department at the University of Essex.

"The fullest and most interesting account of how the Russian public seized upon the theater as an art form, as entertainment, and as an instrument of popular education. Swift makes Ostrovsky, Stanislavsky, Chekhov, and Tolstoy come alive, bringing great clarity to the larger context in which Russia's great dramatists thought about theater, its audience, and its functions."-Jeffrey Brooks, author of When Russia Learned to Read: Literacy and Popular Literature, 1861-1917

• List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Note on Transliteration and Dates Introduction Chapter One: The Urban Theatrical Landscape Chapter Two: People's Theater and Cultural Politics Chapter Three: Censorship and Repertoire Chapter Four: Theater, Temperance, and Popular Culture Chapter Five: Workers' Theater, Proletarian Culture, and Respectability Chapter Six: The People at the Theater: Audience Reception Conclusion Epilogue Appendix of Titles Notes Bibliography Index