"First published in hardcover by The Vendome Press in 2008"--Copyright page.

"At the turn of the 20th century, against the background of the pomp and circumstance of the Imperial court and the rumblings of social unrest and political upheaval, Moscow and St. Petersburg experienced a sudden, brilliant flowering of the visual, literary, and performing arts. Known in Russia as the Silver Age, this cultural renaissance is captured in all of its dazzling originality in this sumptuously illustrated volume." "Much of this new efflorescence was indebted to the Symbolist movement, which fell on fertile soil in the boundless expanse of Mother Russia. The Russian Symbolists lived and created on the edge, which often earned them the sobriquet of Decadent or Degenerate. Yet, as impresario Sergei Diaghilev declared, theirs was not a moral or artistic decline, but a voyage of inner discovery and a refurbishing of a national culture." "Advancing in roughly chronological sequence, Moscow St. Petersburg 1900-1920 develops themes and propositions that relate closely - but not exclusively - to key social and political developments in Russian history, which were both refracted and affected by painting, poetry, music, and dance. With some 650 illustrations, the book carries a rich repertoire of artistic images and vintage documentary photographs, many of which have not been previously published."--BOOK JACKET.

"This book focuses on the visual and material culture of St Petersburg and Moscow at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Advancing in roughly chronological sequence, Moscow and St Petersburg in Russia's Silver Age highlights the essential social and political developments of this turbulent era, which painting, poetry, music and dance both refracted and affected. A dazzling array of artists, writers, composers, actors, singers, dancers and designers are presented in context. The book carries a rich repertoire of artistic images and vintage documentary photographs, many of which have not been published before. With a clear narrative and comprehensive bibliography, this volume will appeal both to the specialist and to the general student of Russian history and culture."--BOOK JACKET.

"Johnson traces the history of kraevedenie, showing how St. Petersburg-based scholars and institutions have played a central role in the evolution of the discipline. Distinguished from obvious Western equivalents such as cultural geography and the German Heimatkunde by both its dramatic history and unique social significance, kraevedenie has, for close to a hundred years, served as a key forum for expressing concepts of regional and national identity within Russian culture."--Jacket.