St. Petersburg: Russia's Window to the Future, The First Three Centuries

by Arthur George, Elena George

Throughout its history, and particularly since the downfall of the USSR, St. Petersburg has held a unique fascination both within and outside of Russia. One of the world's most vibrant and storied metroplises, St. Petesburg celebrates its 300th anniversary in 2003. This full-length narrative history chronicles the distinctively beautiful city from its founding by Peter the Great in 1703 through its modern renaissance in the era of Vladimir Putin. St. Petersburg covers the city's political and social history, as well as its infinite contributions to scholarship, culture, and world politics. Particular attention is paid to St. Petersburg's frequent role as Russia's key link to the West and modernism, and the relevance of this to present-day Russia as it endeavors to become a civil society.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

512 pages, Hardcover

First published September 25, 2003

About the author

I'm a mythologist, cultural historian, and author. In my writings I like to take into account the archaeological, philosophical, sociological, and depth psychological aspects of my mythological subject matter.

In addition to writing books and articles, I also enjoy giving lectures at scholarly conferences as well as informal talks to other groups that share my interests.

I am passionate about deepening my and my audience's understanding of the interrelationship between cultural history, mythology, religion, and depth psychology in a way that will enrich and benefit our society and our own personal knowledge and spirituality.

When I'm not pursuing such interesting things, I like to enjoy downhill skiing, running, dancing, films, world travel, cooking, wine, and making wine (I have my own vineyard).

Reviews

[Sergey Geller · Rating 3 out of 5]

The history of Saint Petersburg is incredible. It's hard to imagine how it is still standing after the Bolshevik Revolution and especially the Nazi invasion. It's a well researched book but there are times where I wished certain moments were fleshed out more. The book goes into detail about how the winter palace design changed with each emperor for pages and leaves out conflicts that took place under certain reigns. It barely covers Catherine the Greats 30+ year reign, Alexander II gets surface level treatment, doesn't go into detail about Stalin's gulags, skips Brezhnev term, and the ending is underwhelming. It is a good entry book to get a brief history of 300 years of the city. But if you already know most of the history you will learn very little. The book goes into detail with names of poets and revolutionaries and for a person who knows nothing it is overwhelming. Why go into detail about that and not go into detail about important events, wars, why someone got overthrown.

[Stacey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Academic read on the history of St. Petersburg. It was an interesting read but contains many inaccuracies with regards to Rasputin’s life and death.

[Counsel182 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Published in 2003 to commemorate St. Petersburg's 300th anniversary this is a remarkable, plainly authoritative, single volume account of the city's history. Unfortunately, the book--so I am told as it was a wonderful Christmas gift--is rather difficult to obtain these days. In light of recent events it is remarkable to see Mr. George's insights and hopes for what the future might hold for this wonderful city. I have always wanted to travel there to visit the Hermitage, Winter Palace and Palace Square. This book certainly enhances that desire. However, it remains to be seen how recent events might play out. In this regard, Mr. George seems rather taken by Mr. Putin describing him as encompassing St. Petersburg's "liberal, progressive and cosmopolitan traits." This book remains a fascinating story in progress.

[Alexander Pechacek · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this dense history of St. Petersburg. First of all I could engage with this reading because I have read books about European history before. I noticed that the writer did not become long-winded and never made the mistake of making winding descriptions. He covered art, architecture, literature and composers very well. I especially liked how he conjured images of the early rulers up to to modern day Russia. I especially enjoyed his writing on Empress Anna Ioannovna, Nicholas I, and Peter the Great. The influence the writer Pushkin had on Petersburg was not ignored and the Bronze Horseman proved very influential... Further focusing on what the Avant Garde of Russia had to offer was very interesting. To conclude this review I’ll mention that it was surprising how this book did not feel boring from a readers perspective. Thanks.