A comprehensive guide to Russian culture from the end of serfdom in 1861 to the war in Chechenia. There are two main parts to the book - the first examines cultural identity from a number of perspectives - language, religion, ideology, geography (boundaries with Asia and the West), history and politics. The second, headed literature and the arts, covers literature, theatre, music, art and film. All the key figures are included - from Anna Akhmatova to Solzhenitsyn, from Bulgakov to Stanislavsky, and from Ivan the Terrible to Eisenstein.