REVIEW: PLACE AND NATURE: ESSAYS IN RUSSIAN ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY

The publication is devoted to the analysis of the recently published collective monograph "Place and Nature: Essays in Russian Environmental History" edited by D. Moon, N.B. Breyfogle and A.V. Bekasova. The content of all articles is summarized, and a thoughtful choice of research approaches and the breadth of the sources involved are noted. Another strong side of the monograph is its authors' attention to the local and the specific, as well as their ability to place their research cases in the global context. The concept of "place" is one of the key analytical frameworks for the authors of the monograph. It is described as concrete and culturally loaded and opposed to the abstract, broad, and homogeneous "space". "Nature - environment," the second most important dichotomy, is defined in a similar way. Nature itself does not need the human, while the environment is formed only where the human enters into a conscious relationship with the surrounding material world. The first part of the monograph is devoted to the Russian North and Northwest. Tracing the ecological history of the Solovetsky Islands, Lake Imandra on the Kola Peninsula, Vodlozersky National Park, as well as the Petersburg floods of 1824 and 1924, the authors offer a multifaceted image of the environmental problems of this region. The second part of the collective monograph is a series of the visual essays in which researchers not only analyze historical materials, but also share their own experience of being in the places they study. In the fmal third of the book, the authors return to the more traditional genre of research articles. Three out of five texts in this section are in one way or another devoted to Baikal; one is a work in the genre of the history of mobility and is focused on pre-revolutionary guidebooks to Siberia; and one analyzes the problems of hunting and protecting wildlife in the Far East. According to the author of the review, the monograph "Place and Nature: Essays in Russian Environmental History" is an important intervention into the modern literature; it is based on a deep understanding of theoretical concepts and a wide range of historical sources. The most promising direction, in which the field of Russian environmental history can develop in the light of the monograph is the expansion of the range of places, spaces, and ecosystems worthy of study. The authors of the monograph focus on places known for their special natural value; it seems that a big step forward for the historiography would be a more careful examination of the everyday spaces in which the majority of the population interacts with the environment.