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Rated 5 out of 5 by dysprosium162 from Amazing Overview of This Misunderstood Culture I just finished this course and I can't recommend it enough. Understanding history is key to understanding current events.

Date published: 2023-04-05

Rated 5 out of 5 by JannaG from Good One ! It has been quite some time since I bought a course and both format and content - though always good - have improved. I like all the extra visual material in both the DVDs and the course book. And there is more information about women than there used to be. It took about a month to arrive, but it's That Time of the Year.

Date published: 2022-12-18

Rated 5 out of 5 by Stig from Russian CULTURAL history Dr. Hartnett was a great presenter which the majority of reviewers appeared to appreciate. The contents were enlightening to me and gave a greater understanding of present day Russia, which was my intention when taking the course. It certainly focused on the cultural aspects, put this was put into historical context.

Date published: 2022-12-04

Rated 2 out of 5 by tommyd555 from Odd Organization & Flow to Lectures I tried to enjoy this course. I was very excited and anxious to learn about Russian history. I went in with every intention of enthusiastically focusing on a topic I had been waiting for some time for the Great Courses to present (none of the other Russian courses surveyed history prior to Peter the Great). But I found this a difficult course to get through. My first disappointment was with the dearth of information on ancient Russian history (prior to Peter the Great): this had been one of the main reasons I had been looking forward to this course. However, 600 years of history were covered in only 14 minutes of lecture 1: one of the main reasons for my interest in this course was to more deeply explore early Russian history but little can be found here. Not much on how the original Rus state came to be. Hundreds of years of Mongol domination were discussed in a line or two. Military engagements such as Russia’s confrontations with Sweden and Poland-Lithuania are mentioned but come with no details of the actual battles or specifics on how the conflicts played out or of the underlying dynamics. Without deeper discussion or analysis how are we to truly understand these events or of how Russia built their empire? Yes, there is a lecture on Ivan the Terrible but even that failed to describe the events of his time in any kind of detail. But what was more maddening to me (although it probably says more about my personal style of learning) was the organization of the lectures themselves and how the course enfolds. I cannot say it is in a traditional chronological manner: not only does it result in the feeling there is little connection or momentum from one lecture to the next (perhaps the lectures were meant to all stand alone on their own vs. relating a chronological full story of Russia?) but it also leads to material being repeated numerous times such as the odd scenario of a history of Russian serfdom being described in some detail twice....even more bizarrely in consecutive lectures (6 & 7)! I think it is good to repeat certain events or thoughts for reinforcement purposes but this was altogether something different: events were discussed in great detail TWICE such as Stalin's funeral. And the topper is the double relation of this event is intermingled in other stories of his life! Why in the world wouldn't his life be described first followed by his death? Instead we get the the odd sequence of the professor describing his funeral first (the very first mention of Stalin), then events of his life, then his funeral again, and then other events in his life! I almost question did anyone QA this course (even the professor herself)? It's not that this course doesn't have great content. Lecture 14 on the Romanovs was well put together and engaging. The professor is obviously very qualified and there is a lot to learn in this course but it is painful to get there. The organization of the course and the lack of detail of some of the most critical political and military historical events prevents me from fully appreciating this course. Sorry one last nag: the professor is passionate and enthusiastic about the subject but her delivery veers into "way too emotionally over the top" territory at times. I was on the fence with giving a 2 or 3 star review. I think if it wasn't for the course organizational concerns this would be a solid three star course worth future listenings. However, add everything up and I don't think I will retain this course. Listening for another 12 hours strikes me as too painful. I certainly hope The Great Courses produces a course that describes in greater detail Russian history from its Rus origins to the present.

Date published: 2022-08-12

Rated 2 out of 5 by GreatCoursesOG from Sub-par performance Full disclosure: I did not get past the second episode. Why didn't I get past the second episode? The narration was sub-par at best. It would be okay for a YouTube video but I expect better from Wondrium. I was listening to the audio rather than watching the video. The narrator stumbles over many words and adds odd inflection at points. Eventually I had enough and had to find something else to listen to. She's basically reading an essay to the camera and I think would have done a much better job if she presented her information like a university lecture or similar. Information seems good. Presentation is not.

Date published: 2022-07-22

Rated 5 out of 5 by jeffbiss from Great overview of Russia and its culture Dr. Lynne Ann Hartnett does a great job of making Russian history come alive and in explaining the people and events that created Russia of today. I think that this background is important today as most Americans know nothing of Russia, the people and events that created it, especially Putin's Russia. This material sets the student up for deeper dives into deeper discussions of Russian history, people and personalities and our foreign policy that helped create today's situation.

Date published: 2022-07-11

Rated 5 out of 5 by Koschka from An educational treasure chest This course has so much information, it really is a treasure chest. The cultural history of Russia is so rich and so intertwined with it's early roots. Fascinating. Well presented and engaging. A great course!

Date published: 2022-06-14

Rated 5 out of 5 by PDG Charlie from Title was accurate in describing the course. The professor was very well qualified and the course was presented in a logical sequence that led to an enriched understanding of the development of the Russian peoples. She was particularly helpful in sharing her knowledge of many terms in the Russian language. This course helped me to understand the Russia of today and its actions toward the rest of the world nations - especially his treatment of immediate neighbors and left me with a feeling that the common people of the country are no better off now than they have been for centuries because of the continued arbitrary leadership of the country

Date published: 2022-06-04

Overview

In a time when the eyes of the Western world are drawn to Russia and her role on the world stage, it's amazing how little many of us really know about it. Blending history with cultural studies, the 24 lectures of Understanding Russia: A Cultural History bring you closer than ever to the Russian people through the poetry of Pushkin, the comfort of early folk tales, the faith of medieval iconography, the avant-garde films of Eisenstein, and more.

About

Lynne Ann Hartnett

For better and worse, people are the central characters in revolutions.

ALMA MATER

Boston College

INSTITUTION

Villanova University

Dr. Lynne Ann Hartnett is an Associate Professor of History at Villanova University, where she teaches courses on all facets of Russian history as well as on the social, political, and intellectual history of modern Europe. She earned her PhD in Russian History at Boston College. Dr. Hartnett’s research focuses on the Russian revolutionary movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and she has conducted archival research in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Amsterdam, and London. She regularly presents her research at international conferences in the United States and Europe. Dr. Hartnett’s work, which has been published in a number of academic journals, focuses on the Russian revolutionary leader Vera Figner and the terrorist group People’s Will; Russian political émigrés in European exile; the Russian Civil War as experienced by an individual family; and the transnational activist networks that Russian émigrés built with British liberals, socialists, and suffragists. Immigration policy and refugee issues are central to this work and provide a link to contemporary policy questions. Dr. Hartnett is also the author of the book, The Defiant Life of Vera Figner: Surviving the Russian Revolution. Dr. Hartnett is the director of Villanova’s graduate program in History and the president of the Sigma of Pennsylvania Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa. At Villanova, she has served as the director of the Russian Area Studies Program. Dr. Hartnett has been nominated three times for the Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Distinguished Teaching Award and has received several teaching awards at both Villanova and Boston College.