Sunlight at Midnight: St. Petersburg and the Rise of Modern Russia [Paperback]

Bruce Lincoln (Author), W. Bruce Lincoln (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 4, 2002

For Russians, St.Petersburg has embodied power, heroism and fortitude. It has encompassed all the things that the Russians are and that they hope to become. Opulence and artistic brilliance blend with images of suffering on a monumental scale to make up the historic persona the late W. Bruce Lincoln's lavish biography of this mysterious, complex city. Climate and comfort were not what Tsar Peter the Great had in mind when he decided to build a new capital in the muddy marshes of the Neva River delta. Located 500 miles below the Arctic Circle, this area, with its foul weather, bad water and sodden soil, was so unattractive that only a handful of Finnish fisherman had ever settled there. Yet to the Tsar the place he named Sankt Pieter Burkh had the makings of a paradise. His vision was soon borne out: though St. Petersburg was closer to London, Paris and Vienna than to Russian's far-off eastern lands, it quickly became the political, cultural and economic center of an empire that stretched across more than a dozen time zones and over three continents.In this book, revolutionaries and laborers brush shoulders with tsars and builders, soldiers and statesmen share pride of place with poets. For only the entire historical experience of this magnificent and mysterious city can reveal the wealth of human and natural forces that shaped the modern history of the city and the nation it represents.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Published posthumously, this history is based on the old adage that St. Petersburg is Russia's "window to the West," that it represents a "psychological force, an intellectual vision, and a way of life against which everything else in Russia has been measured." Lincoln (Conquest of a Continent, one of PW's Best Books for 1994), a top Russian scholar and professor at Northern Illinois University for 31 years, offers a highly accessible and gripping account. ("Dancing was her favorite pastime, and fashion one of her chief concerns," Lincoln writes of Catherine the Great. "Pages at her court strutted in bottle-green uniforms trimmed with gold lace and faced in red as they served guests in the European fashion.") Lincoln focuses on major events like the city's construction, the October Revolution and the Great Blockade; Russian history buffs will find little new here. However, Lincoln's meticulous, colorful detail enlivens these well-trod stories. The work would have benefited from more current material Lincoln barely grazes post-WWII St. Petersburg and the city's window-to-the-West status rings more romantic than true today. Lincoln's homage to St. Petersburg doesn't address the city's present or future. He concludes with a platitude: "the people of St. Petersburg have always striven to reach beyond the limits of normal human experience. No doubt they will do so again, but only time can reveal what form their efforts will take." It's unfortunate that this fine, passionate work, too, didn't strive a bit more. 75 photos.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Over the past 25 years, Lincoln has published a dozen books on Russia, most recently Between Heaven and Hell: 1000 Years of Artistic Life in Russia. Their cumulative effect establishes him at the forefront of Western historians of 19th- and 20th-century Russia. In this new work, Lincoln offers a survey of Russia's glittering (and sordid) former imperial capital, later the second city of the Soviet Union and post-Soviet Russia. He traces the story of its beginnings as the product of one man's titanic will, then lovingly depicts the glorious buildings of 18th-century empresses, followed by the rise of industrial slums, disaffection, violence, intellectual ferment, and revolution. The agonies and heroism of the city's 900 days under siege in World War II still provoke awe. One may doubt that the "rise of modern Russia" can be told in terms of one city, but Lincoln's concern to depict the pulls of the West and Russian history in terms of St Petersburg's life comes out clearly and convincingly. For public and academic libraries. Robert H. Johnston, McMaster Univ., Hamilton, Ont.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books (June 4, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0465083242
• ISBN-13: 978-0465083244
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #105,008 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars One final excellent work, July 30, 2001

By 

Frank J. Konopka (Shamokin, PA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sunlight at Midnight: St. Petersburg and the Rise of Modern Russia (Hardcover)

It was with great sadness that I learned of the death of W. Bruce Lincoln, one of my favorite writers of history. His works on Russia have given me, time and again, new insight into that country, its people and history. This last work is another excellent example of his writing, marred only by what I think is some poor editing. I don't know at what stage of this work Mr. Lincoln died, but it appears that, if he had survived through the final editing stage this book would have been in a different form. There are more than a few redundancies, which should have been picked up by an alert editor, and I'm sure would have been by the author if he had been around to do so. That criticism aside, I thoroughly enjoyed this work, once again learning many new things about the Russian psyche, as brought forth through the history of St. Petersburg. There may be a bit too much about architecture in this work, but I consider it a "work in progress" that will now, unfortunately, never get into the final shape its author intended. It's a loss for all of us.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Occasionally great, but often stodgy, July 2, 2003

By 

gwc (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sunlight at Midnight: St. Petersburg and the Rise of Modern Russia (Paperback)

Lincoln's "Sunlight at Midnight" has some excellent moments, but is frequently superficial and a little dull. The book is primarily a cultural history of St Petersburg, featuring the usual cast of writers (Pushkin, Gogol, Belyi), poets (Blok, Akhmatova, Brodsky), and composers (Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich). The Romanov rulers and their tastes in architecture are discussed extensively, as are the Soviets and their tastes in censorship.

The first three chapters are primarily a cultural history of imperial Russia following Peter the Great's reign. They deal mostly in court affairs and architects, neither of which are particularly interesting. Next come descriptions of Petersburg's literary and musical history, which are spotty and do not compare well with the detail of Solomon Volkov's "St Petersburg".

The tone changes abruptly when we reach the late nineteenth century, and the reliance on artistic sources gives way to a more popular account of the revolutionary period. Events are well presented but the story is told too quickly. The months between abdication and Bolshevik takeover, for example, pass in a single paragraph. I would have gladly exchanged twenty early pages on the styles of palace facades for some details of the provisional government's failure and the October coup.

The chapter on the Leningrad siege is a masterpiece of narrative history, but the book unfortunately returns to cultural matters and Soviet repression of artists in the postwar period. This is interesting stuff, but not remotely as gripping as the events of the previous decades and written in a cursory style more suited to a review for a knowledgeable reader.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A great concept, but an uneven telling, September 18, 2009

By 

doc peterson (Portland, Oregon USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Sunlight at Midnight: St. Petersburg and the Rise of Modern Russia (Paperback)

In _Sunlight at Midnight_, historian Bruce Lincoln tells the story of Russia through the city of St. Petersburg. This works well, and in many places (like the city itself) it is both beautiful and brilliant. Unfortunately, his history is uneven. The usual cast of characters connected to this place are here: Peter and Catherine the Great, Rastrelli, Quarenghi in the 18th century; Pushkin, Gogol, Faberge, Dostoevsky in the 19th; Blok, Akhmatova, Brodsky and Lermonotov in the 20th. The association of these great minds and personalities with the city breathe life in the cultural telling of the history of Russia through the story of this marvelous city.

However, as a previous reviewer has noted, the emphasis Lincoln puts on the events of the city are a bit skewed. The tremendous expense Catherine and Elizabeth invested in object d'art is interesting, as are the details of the construction of the Winter Palace and (numerous) other royal dwellings in and around the city. But to spend such an inordinate amount of time discussing this while only briefly addressing the two decades between the wars seems out of balance. Similarly, the post-war history of the city was addressed in really a cursory manner compared to the amount of detail given during its growth in the early and mid-19th century.

These criticisms aside, the history of St. Petersburg makes for a fascinating narrative of broader events in Russian history, from the failed Decembrist revolt in 1825, to the revolutions of 1905 and 1917. This is a book I would certainly recommend for those traveling to St. Petersburg, given the detail and connections between landmarks and larger events in Russia (and the Soviet Union.) I do wish Lincoln had addressed the unique - odd may be a better word - place St. Petersburg has in Russia. It is a stunningly beautiful city, and is immensely popular with Westerners: it is the most "Western" of Russian cities. But it is not really Russia. This awkward truth is pointed out in various places (as the city is being built, during Napoleon's invasion, during the Terror), but I believe it warranted more consistent reminding to the reader: St. Petersburg is a "window on the West" in a very real sense of Russia being locked outside of Western Europe, looking in; imitating, being influenced by, but certainly not a participant in the West - and as such, not entirely "Russian", either.

Lincoln is a wonderful writer, and his retelling of the 900 seige during World War II and descriptions of the marvelous collections of art (now in the old Winter Palace, the "Hermitage") are first rate. His love for the city is evident in the writing, and in many respects, the concept of national history told through its most influential city works as a narrative thread. Certainly worthwhile for those who are familiar with the place, or for those intending to go.