{"product_id":"2026100012382-secondhand-life-in-russia-under-catherine-the-great","title":"Life In Russia Under Catherine The Great","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCondition remarks:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBook: Good\u003cbr\u003eJacket: Wear and tear with damage\u003cbr\u003ePages: Good\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eImperial Russia at its most magnificent and contradictory comes alive in Miriam Kochan's Life in Russia Under Catherine the Great, a richly detailed portrait of an empire balanced between Enlightenment ideals and feudal tradition. Set against the glittering backdrop of 18th-century St. Petersburg and the vast Russian hinterland, the work chronicles the daily existence of all social strata — from the jewel-encrusted nobility of Catherine's celebrated court to the serfs bound to the frozen soil of the steppe — illuminating the profound tensions that defined one of history's most dramatic reigns.\n\nKochan presents her subject with the precision of a scholar and the narrative warmth of a storyteller, drawing on contemporary accounts, travellers' diaries, and diplomatic correspondence to reconstruct a world of breathtaking opulence and stark inequality. The work stands as a significant contribution to social history, arguing implicitly that Catherine's Russia was not merely the sum of one woman's remarkable ambitions, but a civilisation caught between two worlds — and the question of which world ultimately prevailed will leave the reader hungry to discover more.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Secondhand Stock","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51022671380699,"sku":"2026100012382-SECONDHAND","price":20.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0523\/7646\/9701\/files\/6d9e561b-8a35-4a95-a214-2716e91d3003.png?v=1793665466","url":"https:\/\/bookgrocer.com\/products\/2026100012382-secondhand-life-in-russia-under-catherine-the-great","provider":"Book Grocer","version":"1.0","type":"link"}