Inside the Russian Soul: An Historical Survey of Russian Cultural Patterns

Text provides readers with sine quo non cultural and linguistic patterns that shaped and molded modern Russians' thinking, attitudes and behavior. It gives readers ideas, images and historic realia that native Russians learn and build associations upon in their early years. Cultural history of Russia is presented as a set of cultural ideas that are imprinted in the mind of Russians - notions that play a similar role in our cultural thinking as do linguistic idioms in our speech. These patterns are given in chronological order so that the reader can trace the development of Russian cultural tradition. By presenting a concise cultural history of Russia from the 7th century A.D. to the winter of 1996, the text reflects both the formation of the culture and the modern cultural essentials that will help readers deal with contemporary Russia and Russians.