V.O. Kliuchevskii, historian of Russia

V. O. Kliuchevskii (1841-1911), Russia's most prominent historian, left an enduring literary legacy and a following of generations of trained historians. The son of a poor parish priest, Kliuchevskii became a distinguished teacher, rising to the senior position in Russian history at Moscow University. Robert F. Byrnes's distinguished intellectual biography shows how Kliuchevskii struggled with and clarified Russia's relationship with the West, delineated the roles of autocracy and the Orthodox Church in Russia's development, and shaped a Russian conception of national consciousness and identity. Byrnes draws on years of research in archival materials, memoirs, and scholarly studies to illuminate the life and ideas of this incisive scholar and uncommon teacher whose vision of Russian history still resonates today.