Living Water: Vodka and Russian Society on the Eve of Emancipation

by David Christian

Overview

This is a study of the social, economic, and political role of vodka in nineteenth-century Russia. Since the "Green Serpent" first appeared in sixteenth-century Muscovy, it has played a vital part in Russian life. Vodka became an essential ingredient in all working class celebrations—personal, religious, and commercial. By the nineteenth century, it was generating one third of government revenue. The individual and governmental dependence on vodka has endured into the Gorbachev era, yet until now, the phenomenon has largely been ignored by historians. Drawing on original research in Soviet archives, this lively volume will provide an indispensable analysis of the importance of the vodka trade to all aspects of Russian life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780198222866
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	10/11/1990
Pages:	458
Product dimensions:	5.81(w) x 8.81(h) x 1.29(d)

About the Author

Macquarie University, Sydney

Table of Contents

	List of Figures	vi
	List of Tables	viii
	Acknowledgments	ix
	Introduction	1
Part 1.	Vodka and Russian Society
1	Vodka before the Nineteenth Century	21
Part 2.	Drinking Vodka
2	Vodka	51
3	Traditional and Modern Drinking Cultures	69
Part 3.	Making Money from Vodka
4	Selling Vodka: Taverns and Tavernkeepers	99
5	Selling Vodka: The Tax Farm--Structure, Metabolism, and Ecology	117
6	Selling Vodka: The Tax Farmers	155
7	Taxing Vodka: The Government's Share	186
8	Making Vodka: The Nobility's Share	218
Part 4.	Vodka and Emancipation
9	Upper Class Protest: Press Attacks on the Tax Farm	255
10	Working Class Protest: Boycotting Vodka	286
11	Working Class Protest: Smashing Taverns	320
12	'Killing the Hundred-Headed Hydra': The Abolition of Tax Farming	353
Appendix (1)	Long Statistical Series	382
Appendix (2)	Accounts	393
Appendix (3)	An Oath of Sobriety	416
	Glossary and Measures	417
	Bibliography	423
	Index	437

Editorial Reviews

"The book is a pleasure to read. The research is...thorough and sound. Christian is judicious and fair in his presentation of contemporary opinion."—The Annals of the American Academy

"As one would expect from Clarendon, the book is handsomely and meticulously produced."—The Russian Review

"Social history at its best."—CHOICE

From the Publisher