Well, it's a textbook: nothing deep here, and it's written by a consortium of area experts each trying to get their little viewpoint in (Catholic historians are especially bad about this, sorry.) But just reviewing the facts is such a good exercise, and you come out with things you didn't know--just e.g., I had no idea that medieval Russia was so free--peasants able to move as they pleased, healthier and happier and more prosperous than in the West--until they were crushed up by the Mongols and king-aristocrat collusion and reduced to classic serfs. You always wonder how that frontiery Russia was born and persisted, and this gives you a bit of a clue--and then it makes you think too about the peasant as a Communist rhetorical figure, and how this lost eden changes the angles there. That's something I got out of it. Your little piece of filled-in context could be something else entirely.


Also, this book is the right size and weight to lie open on the table while you eat, and it has been my breakfast book since like September. Looking forward to going through the three companion volumes! ( )

Daunting book. Definitely academic.