Empire of the Czar [Hardcover]

Marquis De Custine (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English, French (translation)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 631 pages
• Publisher: Doubleday; 1 edition (March 1, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385249586
• ISBN-13: 978-0385249584
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 2.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,419,430 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Unvarnished and Unedited Look at Early 19th Centrury Russia, January 8, 2008

By 

Loves the View "Louise" (Hawaii) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: EMPIRE OF THE CZAR (Paperback)

This is one of the most readable of the historical travelogs I've encountered. The prose is fresh, and the attitude contemporary. It comes with a Forward by Daniel Boorstin and an Introduction by George F. Kennan.

The descriptions of entering the country, St. Petersburg, roads and traveling on them (treatment of horses, skill and attitude of drivers), the portraits of the overly polite short fused aristocracy and the many interesting conversations are very good. There are great descriptions of countryside, the architecture, the market at Ninjni, the plight of the peasants, and the continual plague of insects. There are ruminations on Russian history and comparisons of Russian and French culture, ethics and well being.

The best, though is the author's take on the effects of the autocracy, and how the despotic attitude trickles down. For all his refined manners, the czar meets out swift, frequent and severe punishment. (Siberia and/or torture) and through his auspices, aristocrats and officials feel entitled to perform acts of great cruelty as well. Because those who are not being punished live in fear that they will be, Custine calls the Czar the jailer of !/3 of the world.

One drawback of this book is that Custine repeats his analysis on the trickle down effects of the czar's power over and over again. The book is long, and about 200 pages are devoted to this very well thought out but overstated thesis. Another drawback for me was that while he did not stay long in Moscow, I would have liked more description of it.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Custine is Russia's De Tocqueville, March 12, 2011

By 

Ossian - See all my reviews

This review is from: Empire of the Czar (Hardcover)

I am Russian, and I agree without reservation with those who have said that de Custine did for Russia what de Tocqueville did for America. That is, although he took his trip before the Russian Revolution and even before the country had begun to modernize and industrialize in earnest, he picked up on something so fundamental about the land and its people that it is still recognizably there today. You would have to read the book to figure out what that is, and the czar's autocracy, mentioned by the previous reviewer, has a lot to do with it even though today's czars are elected. From that standpoint, de Custine's subtitle, "A Journey Through Eternal Russia," is literally true: he saw through the external and the accidental to the eternal.