St. Petersburg : madness, murder, and art on the banks of the Neva / Jonathan Miles.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Miles, Jonathan, 1952- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Saint Petersburg (Russia)--History.

Saint Petersburg (Russia).

Saint Petersburg (Russia)--Civilization.

Saint Petersburg (Russia)--Politics and government.

Saint Petersburg (Russia)--Intellectual life.

Saint Petersburg (Russia)--Kings and rulers.

Physical Description:

592 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, map, color ; 24 cm

Edition:

First Pegasus Books hardcover edition.

Other Title:

Saint Petersburg

Place of Publication:

New York : Pegasus Books, 2018.

Summary:

St. Petersburg has always felt like an impossible metropolis, rising from the freezing mists and flooded marshland of the River Neva on the western edge of Russia. It was a new capital in an old country. Established in 1703 by the sheer will of its charismatic founder, the homicidal megalomaniac Peter the Great, its dazzling yet unhinged reputation was quickly cemented by the sadistic dominion of its early rulers. This city, in is successive incarnations - St. Petersburg, Petrograd, Leningrad and, once again, St. Petersburg - has been a place of perpetual contradiction. The city was a window to Europe and the Enlightenment, but so much of Russia's unique glory was also created here: its literature, music, dance and, for a time, its political vision. It gave birth to the artistic genius of Pushkin and Dostoyevsky, Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich, Pavlova and Nureyev. Yet, for all its glittering palaces, fairytale balls, and enchanting gardens, the blood of thousands has been spilled on its snow-filled streets. The city has been a hotbed of war and revolution, a place of siege and starvation, and the crucible for Lenin and Stalin's power-hungry brutality. In this volume, the author recreates the drama of three hundred years in this paradoxical and brilliant city, bringing the reader up to the present day, when its fate hangs in the balance once more. This is an epic tale of murder, massacre and madness played out against an unforgettable portrait of a city and its people.

Contents:

Twilight on the Nevsky 1993

Part I. Emperors 1698-1825

Havoc in London

Dangerous acceleration

Oblivion and rebirth

Dancing, love-making, drink

The city transformed

Madness, murder, and insurrection

Part II. Subjects 1825-1917

A new kind of cold

Discontent

Dancing on the edge

Dazzle and despair

Part III. Comrades & citizens 1917-2017

Red Petrograd

A city diminished

Darkest and finest hour

Murmurs from the underground

Broken windows onto the West

Mirage 2017.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 494-563) and index.

Local Notes:

Athenaeum copy: Schaffer fund bookplate.

ISBN:

9781681776767

1681776766

OCLC:

1027918050

Publisher Number:

99976108501