Encyclopedia of Russian History

When Macmillan Reference USA approached me seeking an editor in chief for a projected Encyclopedia of Russian History, I realized that if I could persuade the best scholars in the field to serve as Associate Editors and on an Editorial Board, and if we could persuade other top scholars to write entries, the experience would be educational and highly worthwhile. I also realized that it would necessarily be a “labor of love” for all involved. Participating scholars would have to believe in the intrinsic value of the project. I first approached Dr. Ann Robertson, who was serving as Managing Editor of my journal, Problems of Post-Communism, to see whether she would be willing to contribute her outstanding editorial skills as well as her expertise in political science to work closely with me as Senior Associate Editor on the encyclopedia. Next I approached Professor Nicholas Riasanovsky of University of California at Berkeley. As the leading historian of Russia and director of innumerable Ph.D. dissertations in the field, Professor Riasanovsky represented the keystone in the construction of the editorial committee. I knew that his name would assure other scholars of the serious academic nature of the project. I was soon able to recruit an ix

awesome set of associate editors: Daniel Kaiser of Grinnell College, Louise McReynolds of the University of Hawaii at Manoa, Donald Raleigh of the University of North Carolina, and Ronald Suny of the University of Chicago. With their assistance we recruited an equally outstanding Advisory Board.

Below are very brief biographies of the distinguished members on the Editorial Board:

Editor in Chief James R. Millar (Ph.D. Cornell University) is professor of economics and international affairs at the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies at the George Washington University. His primary areas of research are Soviet/Russian economic history and economics of the transition.

Daniel H. Kaiser (Ph.D. University of Chicago) is professor of history at Grinnell College in Iowa. His academic specialty is history and family life in early modern Russia.

Louise McReynolds (Ph.D. University of Chicago) is professor of history at the University of Hawaii. She specializes in Russian intellectual history and cultural studies.

Donald J. Raleigh (Ph.D. Indiana University) is professor of history at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. His research specialization is twentieth-century Russian and Soviet history and the Russian civil war.

Nicholas V. Riasanovsky (D.Phil. Oxford University) is professor emeritus of history at the University of California at Berkeley. He is the author of A History of Russia (New York: Oxford University Press, 1963, sixth edition, 1999).

Ann E. Robertson (Ph.D. George Washington University) is managing editor of the journal Problems of Post-Communism, National Council for Eurasian and East European Research. She specializes in post-Soviet political science.

Ronald Grigor Suny (Ph.D. Columbia University, 1968) is professor of political science at the University of Chicago. His research specialty is comparative politics and Russian history with special attention to non-Russian peoples.

The editorial board assembled at George Washington University in January 2001 to plan the encyclopedia. The topics we identified eventually totaled 1,500 entries. We decided to create basic article categories in an attempt to capture the range and scope of over 1,000 years of Russian history and culture. As a result, articles in the Encyclopedia describe: Historical Events Documents, Declarations, or Treaties Military Campaigns or Battles The Arts, Literature, Philosophy, or Science Economic Developments or Strategies Ethnic Groups Geographical Regions Political or Territorial Units (Cities, Regions, Government Ministries) Countries Prominent in Russian History Government Policies or Programs Organizations, Movements, or Political Parties Influential Individuals Basic Terms or Phrases

Over the next few months members of the editorial board wrote scope statements and identified word lengths (ranging from 250 to 5,000 words) for the articles in their segment of the table of contents. Our goal was to produce four volumes and one million words, a quota we easily could have exceeded. After authors were commissioned and assignments completed, each article was read by the appropriate member of the Editorial Board and by the Editor in Chief for final approval. Macmillan Reference staff has edited the entries for clarity, consistency, and style.