Originally published on June 28, 2021 (Episode 211)
Introduction
For Russia the year 1837 began with the death of the poet Alexander Pushkin in a duel, and ended with a fire that destroyed the Czar’s Winter Palace. These two happenstance events in the imperial capital of St. Petersburg frame a series of extraordinary changes that occurred that year throughout Russia.
For historian Paul Werth, these events amount to a “quiet revolution,” one that changed Russia and provided it with features—religious, cultural, intellectual, institutional, political, and ethnic—that are visible to this day. His new book 1837: Russia’s Quiet Revolution examines this transformative moment and its long-lasting consequences.
About the Guest
Paul W. Werth is Professor in the Department of History at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. A leading historian of Russia, his research focuses on religion, religious freedom, and the role of religious institutions in Russian imperial governance. He is the author of numerous studies and has been known to deliver conference presentations—in verse.
For Further Investigation
Paul Werth, 1837: Russia’s Quiet Revolution (Oxford University Press)
Paul Werth, “To know Russia, you really have to understand 1837”, March 20, 2021
Alexander Pushkin, Eugene Onegin (Penguin Classics, 2008)
Peter Chaadaev, translated by Raymond T. McNally, The Major Works of Peter Chaadaev (Notre Dame, 1969)
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