Power of Language and Rhetoric in Russian Political History

Richard S. Wortman is Bryce Professor Emeritus of History at Columbia University, USA. His recent books include the two-volume Scenarios of Power: Myth and Ceremony in Russian Monarchy (1995 and 2000) and two collections of articles, Visual Texts, Ceremonial Texts, Texts of Exploration: Collected Articles on the Representation of Russian Monarchy (2014), Russian Monarchy: Representation and Rule (2013). The second volume of Scenarios was awarded the American Historical Association's George L. Mosse Prize in 2000, and in 2006 both volumes received the Efim Etkind Prize of St. Petersburg European University for the best book of a western scholar on Russian literature and culture.

• Author’s Preface and Acknowledgements 1. Introduction; Kul’turnost’ and the Rhetoric of Proper Conduct 2. The Rhetoric of Consent: Radost’, Liubov’, Umilenie and Vostorg3. Lichnost’ and the Rhetoric of Duty: The Ethos of Service4. Lichnost’ and the Rhetoric of Duty: In Quest of New Ideals5. Pravda and the Rhetoric of Moral Transcendence6. Tselost’ (Geographical Integrity) in the Rhetoric of the Russian StateBibliography

Given present day revelling in, or abhorrence of, “fake” news, alternative “facts” and tweeted gibberish at the highest political levels, this work is timely … We hear it said often today that words are important. This book demonstrates that they always were.