The icon and the axe: an interpretive history of Russian culture

Background: Kiev ; The forest

The confrontation: The Muscovite ideology ; The coming of the West

The century of schism: The split within ; The Westward turn

The century of aristocratic culture: The troubled enlightenment ; The anti-enlightenment ; The "cursed questions"

On to new shores: The turn to social thought ; The agony of populist art ; New perspectives of the waning century

Uncertain colossus: Crescendo ; The Soviet era ; Fresh ferment ; The irony of Russian history.