Many Americans and Europeans have for centuries viewed Russia as a despotic country in which people are inclined to accept suffering and oppression. What are the origins of this stereotype of Russia as a society fundamentally apart from nations in the West, and how accurate is it?
In the first book devoted to answering these questions, Marshall T. Poe traces the roots of today's perception of Russia and its people to the eyewitness descriptions of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century European travelers. His fascinating account—the most complete review of early modern European writings about Russia ever undertaken—explores how the image of "Russian tyranny" took hold in the popular imagination and eventually became the basis for the notion of "Oriental Despotism" first set forth by Montesquieu.
Poe, the preeminent scholar of these valuable primary sources, carefully assesses their reliability. He argues convincingly that although the foreigners exaggerated the degree of Russian "slavery," they accurately described their encounters and correctly concluded that the political culture of Muscovite autocracy was unlike that of European kingship. With his findings, Poe challenges the notion that all Europeans projected their own fantasies onto Russia. Instead, his evidence suggests that many early travelers produced, in essence, reliable ethnographies, not works of exotic "Orientalism."
Marshall T. Poe is a Lecturer in History in the Department of Government and Society at the University of Limerick, Ireland.
What People are Saying About This
Valerie Kivelson
"'A People Born to Slavery' is a gem, a remarkable accomplishment that demonstrates its erudite author's deep familiarity with a wide range of sources, from Greek and Renaissance political theory to Muscovite historiography. Marshall Poe's ease with the literature is simply stunning as he writes with easy confidence and draws the reader in with his sharp, enthusiastic argumentation."
Edward Keenan
"Marshall Poe's comprehensive synoptic analysis of foreigners' accounts of Muscovy is certain to stimulate widespread discussion of both the accounts and the reality they claimed to describe. That discussion will be greatly enhanced by the author's provision of very useful bibliographic and tabular information on all the foreign sources."
Daniel Kaiser
"As Marshall Poe's well-written book both criticizes previous histories and shows in what ways they are useful, it also goes beyond the scholarship on early modern Russia and deftly asks to what extent Russia's political culture is distinct from that of Western Europe. 'A People Born to Slavery' is a significant contribution to our understanding of Russia, both early modern and modern."
