Papers by Robert Thurston
The Journal of Modern History, Dec 1, 2020
The Historian, Sep 1, 2011
The basic story of Clark Clifford's career is well known. As a young man, he worked his way up th... more The basic story of Clark Clifford's career is well known. As a young man, he worked his way up the staff of Harry Truman's White House by writing crucial
Focusing on the body in every chapter, this book examines the changing meanings and profound sign... more Focusing on the body in every chapter, this book examines the changing meanings and profound significance of the physical form among the Anglo-Saxons from 1880 to 1920. They formed an imaginary-but, in many ways, quite real-community that ruled much of the world. Among them, racism became more virulent. To probe the importance of the body, this book brings together for the first time the many areas in which the physical form was newly or more extensively featured, from photography through literature, frontier wars, violent sports, and the global circus. Sex, sexuality, concepts of gender including women's possibilities in all areas of life, and the meanings of race and of civilization figured regularly in Anglo discussions. Black people challenged racism by presenting their own photos of respectable folk. As all this unfolded, Anglo men and women faced the problem of maintaining civilized control vs. the need to express uninhibited feeling. With these issues in mind, it is evident that the origins of today's debates about race and gender lie in the late nineteenth century.
Routledge eBooks, Nov 25, 2021
The Historian, Mar 1, 2016
University Microfilms International eBooks, 1980
This is a study of the process of modernization in one Russian locale. The first chapter outlines... more This is a study of the process of modernization in one Russian locale. The first chapter outlines the character of the city and some of its major social problems, thus defining the scale of the task facing the municipality if it wished to improve conditions or even maintain the status quo in the face of rapid population growth. Next, the responsibilities and limitations of the municipality are examined. The City Statutes of 1870 and 1892 and the Extraordinary Measures of 1881 are discussed in the context of Russian history and in terms of their significance for Moscow and other towns. The following section deals with the social composition and politics of the municipal government and discusses the question of the "bourgeois" character of the city Duma and its reputed concentration and defending upper-class interests. Such a view of the Duma is found to be misleading; instead, it was a liberal body dedicated to gradual social change, civil liberties, and the right to act independently of central government tutelage. The structure, functions, and interaction of the police with Moscow's people are then examined. Organized into a gradonachal'stvo (city governorship), the city's police carried out traditional Russian police functions, including some ameliorative efforts and day-to-day political repression. The role of the police in contributing to or reducing political and social tension in Moscow is analyzed. The last three chapters cover the considerable efforts of the municipality and the occasional ones of the police to improve conditions in such areas as transportation, education, public health, housing, and recreation. In bolstering the quality, scale, and availability of its programs, the city government promoted social betterment and integration of the lower classes into urban life. By no means did the Moscow Duma deserve the labels of "indifferent" or "reactionary" that Western and Soviet writers have ascribed to it. In its efforts to improve city life, the local government had constantly to deal with the effects of prior neglect, rapid in-migration, regular interference from the state, and limited financial capability. The Duma also moved slowly to attack some problems because it was still bound by traditional Russian upper-class and governmental attitudes toward urban problems; i.e., they were seen, if noted at all, as the concern of someone else somewhere else. Yet the period 1906-1914 witnessed the rapid development of a trend in the Moscow government toward accepting permanent responsibility for social problems. In this sense the city was also modernizing. Despite many improvements, numerous aspects of Moscow's life remained dismal in 1914. State control and interference, which greatly hampered municipal efforts, showed little sign of lessening; this augured badly for the prospects of improvement in Russia's cities and of the country's peaceful evolution toward a more open social and political order.Ph.D.European historyUniversity of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/157854/1/8017387.pd
Canadian-American Slavic studies =, 1996
The American Historical Review, Apr 1, 1990
... Page 2. Liberal City, Conservative State Page 3. Page 4. Liberal City, Conservative State Mos... more ... Page 2. Liberal City, Conservative State Page 3. Page 4. Liberal City, Conservative State Moscow and Russia's Urban Crisis, 1906-1914 Robert W. Thurston New York Oxford OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS 1987 Page 5. Oxford ...
Canadian-American Slavic studies =, 1990
Slavic Review, 2006
tal powers confronted, in varying degrees, many of the phenomena that Russians saw as distinctive... more tal powers confronted, in varying degrees, many of the phenomena that Russians saw as distinctive to them: pronounced military influence in the political sphere and governmental intervention in economic life; massive population displacement and deteriorating public health; significant shortages and material hardship; and deepening class antagonisms. By tracing similar strains and upheaval across the continent, Gatrell demonstrates that claims of Russian uniqueness cannot be pressed too far. Genuine singularities did exist, however. In this treatment, three emerge as crucial. First, Gatrell contends that prior to 1917 Russia did less than any other country to co-opt organized labor, either by involving labor representatives in industrial decision making or by offering concessions; the result was that Russian workers grew even less willing than their European counterparts to continue sacrificing for the war effort. Similarly, Gatrell finds that Russia's old regime did less than other governments to try and distribute the war's burdens more fairly, through taxes on war profits and the like, and also that it made no attempt to motivate the common soldier by linking personal sacrifice to notions of citizenship. These failures eroded the war's legitimacy with the mass of the population, since they reinforced perceptions that its hardships and rewards were not equally shared. While different historians might identify or emphasize different singularities, Gatrell's consideration of Russia beyond the confines of the usual national framework is a fruitful approach to explaining why Russia alone could not sustain the ordeal of the war. Overall, this volume is more satisfying as economic than as social history. Because so many topics related to Russia's war have yet to be explored by scholars—the great progress of the last decade notwithstanding—the coverage is necessarily uneven: for example, we learn disappointingly little about women's experience of war, peasant society during the war, cultural mobilization, or regional distinctions and variations. In some cases, newer literature relevant to the war years does not appear to have been consulted, so that treatment is minimal or dated for such subjects as the Orthodox Church and popular religiosity in wartime, education and youth, the views of workers in the first two years of the war, and the language and symbols of 1917, especially as they relate to citizenship. But in synthesizing a diffuse body of literature (much of it in Russian and difficult to find), Gatrell has provided a thought-provoking overview useful to anyone interested in Russia's experience of the war, and particularly to scholars of World War I who work outside the Russian field.
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Papers by Robert Thurston