Description
Book SynopsisChronicles in Stone is a study of the powerful and pervasive myth of the Russian Northwest, its role in forming Soviet and Russian identities, and its impact on local communities. Combining detailed archival research, participant observation and oral history work, it explores the transformation of three northwestern Russian towns from provincial backwaters into the symbolic homelands of the Soviet and Russian nations.
The book''s central argument is that the Soviet state exploited the cultural heritage of the Northwest to craft patriotic narratives of the people''s genius, heroism and strength that could bind the nation together after 1945. Through sustained engagement with local voices, it reveals the ways these narratives were internalized, revised, and resisted by the communities living in the region.
Donovan provides an alternative lens through which to view the rise of Russian patriotic consciousness in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, adding a valua
Trade Review
Victoria Donovan's book on preservation, architecture, and regional identity in Northwest Russia provides a useful corrective to works that have looked at the attempts to preserve medieval and folk Russian architecture as an episode mainly in Russian nationalism and chauvinism.
* The Russian Review *
Chronicles in Stone tells us a great deal, not only about patriotism and the imagined nation but also of how historical memory is curated by regional actors, as well as the struggles and deal-making between the political centre and the periphery.
* Europe-Asia Studies *
[Donovan] skillfully weaves her rich and detailed discussion of local dynamics into the national context of the past and present.
* Journal of Soviet and Post-Soviet Politics and Society (JSPPS) *
Whereas studies of such topics underscore the rupture of 1991, Victoria Donovan's monograph emphasizes the continuities of the postwar Soviet society in the present. Her book is part of a recent trend in historical scholarship to investigate the protection, preservation, and restoration of cultural heritage in state socialism societies.
* AB IMPERIO *
Table of ContentsIllustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Phoenixes from the Ashes: Postwar Reconstruction as a Patriotic Duty
2. Zapovedniks or Tourist Resorts? Marketing Heritage to National Audiences
3. Landscapes of Living History: Folk Architecture in the National Imaginary
4. Burnt-Out Fairy Tales: Preservation as a Metaphor for Loss After Socialism
5. Guardians of Our Heritage: Rebranding the Northwest in the Putin Era
6. "Every Centimeter of this Ground is History": Heritage, Narrative, and Identity
Conclusion
Appendix
Selected Bibliography
Notes
Index
