Russian Society in the eighteenth century was dominated by the nobility. This class made large contribution to secular culture and played a role of vital importance in the government, the armed forces and the economic life of Russia. Dr Dukes has based his study on the materials of Catherine the Great's Legislative Commission of 1767. Despite the existence it print since the late nineteenth century of a vast amount of source material in the form of records of this Commission, it has been little explored by western historians. The author begins with a description of noble society before the Commission and of the general situation in Russia before the beginning of Catherine's reign. He constructs a clear, analytical picture of the attitude of the nobility to the chief questions of the day.
