A Site on History and Something Else
Published in Nauka v SSSR: Sovremennaia zarubezhnaia istoriografiia: Sbornik obzorov i referatov [Science in the USSR: Contemporary foreign historiography: A collection of reviews and abstracts], ed. Ol’ga V. Bol’shakova (Moscow, 2014), 145–166.
The text of the review article (2.9 MB, in Russian)
Our collection of reviews and abstracts Pervaia mirovaia voina: Sovremennaia istoriografiia (The First World War: Contemporary Historiography) was published this summer (in Russian only). I was one of the editors (the chief editor was Valerii P. Liubin).
Preface
Review article: Valerii P. Liubin, Western Historians about World War I
Review article: Mikhail M. Mints, Germany in World War I: Contemporary German Historiography
Joint abstract: Urkatastrophe: Anniversary of World War I as a Reason for Rethinking the History of the Twentieth Century
Joint abstract: The Work by Fritz Fischer and the European Historiography
Abstract: V. V. Mironov, Avstro-vengerskaia armiia v Pervoi mirovoi voine: razrushenie oplota Gabsburgskoi monarkhii (Tambov: Izdatel’skii dom Tambovskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta imeni G. R. Derzhavina, 2011) [Austro-Hungarian army in the First World War: destruction of the stronghold of Habsburg Monarchy].
Joint abstract: 1914—2014: The Anniversary of World War I in History: A View from France
Abstract: Christopher M. Clark, Die Schlafwandler: wie Europa in den Ersten Weltkrieg zog (Bonn: Bpb, 2013) [The sleepwalkers: how Europe went to war in 1914].
Abstract: H. Jones, ‘As the Centenary Approaches: The Regeneration of First World War Historiography’, in The Historical Journal 56 (Cambridge, 2013), 857-878.
Review article: Marco Pluviano, Contemporary Italian Historiography and the First World War
Abstract: Emilio Gentile, Due colpi di pistola, dieci milioni di morti, la fine di un mondo: Storia illustrata della Grande Guerra (Roma; Bari: Gius. Laterza & Figli Spa, 2014) [Two shots from a pistol, tens of millions of killed, an end of the world: An illustrated history of the Great War].
Abstract: Celia Malone Kingsbury, For Home and Country: World War I Propaganda on the Home Front (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2010).
Joint abstract: The First World War in Russian and Foreign Historians’ Interpretation
Joint abstract: The Images of the First World War in the Thought of Its Participants and Our Contemporaries
Review article: Sergei V. Bespalov, Socio-Economic Development of Imperial Russia in the Years of the First World War
Abstract: A. Heywood, ‘Spark of Revolution? Railway Disorganization, Freight Traffic and Tsarist Russia’s War Effort, July 1914—March 1917’, in Europe-Asia Studies 65, no. 4 (2013): 753—772.
Abstract: Andrzej Chwalba, Samobójstwo Europy: Wielka wojna 1914–1918 (Kraków: Wydawnictwo Literackie, 2014) [Suicide of Europe: The Great War, 1914–1918].
Abstract: V. A. Pyl’kin, Voennoplennye Avstro-Vengrii, Germanii i Osmanskoi imperii na Riazanskoi zemle v gody mirovoi voiny i revoliutsii (Moscow: Goriachaia liniia—Telekom, 2013) [Prisoners of war from Austria-Hungary, Germany and Ottoman Empire in Riazan’ land in the years of the world war and revolution].
Review Article: Liubov’ Zhvanko, The First World War and the Refugees on the Eastern Front: New Research (Late 20th—Early 21st Century)
Abstract: Liubov’ Zhvanko, Бiженцi першої свiтової вiйни: український вимiр (1914–1918 рр.) (Харкiв: Вiровець А.П. «Апостроф», 2012) [The refugees of the First World War: Ukrainian reality (1914–1918)].
Abstract: Peter Englund, Stridens skönhet och sorg: Första världskriget i 212 korta kapitel (Stockholm: Bokförlaget Atlantis AB, 2008) [The First World War in 212 Episodes].
Contributors
Some more photographs from my trip to Washington. Here is the institute where I was working since October 2012 till March 2013:
Our opponents were rather active this time. No comments, only some translations:
You can also see the flag that looks like the Ribbon of Saint George which used to be widely associated with the commemoration of World War II, but now became a symbol of radical Russian nationalists.
Our demonstration was also crowded:
As I have promised previously, here is a list of newly published books and articles on J. R. R. Tolkien’s fiction. I’ve included also indexes of the library of the Institute of Scientific Information for Social Sciences, in case if anybody tries to find any of these things there: information about new books usually appears in our electronic catalogue with a delay, it’s a paradox of the out-of-date software ;-( Continue reading
In short:
The march was successful, the authorities didn’t put any obstacles, in spite of the organizers’ anxiety. There were provocations, but elsewhere; I’ve seen only the tomatoes on the asphalt. What was a surprise for me in comparison with the previous oppositional marches and rallies:
There were of course not so many people as at the ‘marches of millions’, but surely much more than at the first March of Peace six months ago, that is really fine. The type of people was mostly the same as previously—polite, friendly, with a good sense of humour. Maybe we are only sixteen per cent of the population, but these sixteen per cent are mostly those people I don’t feel ashamed to walk in one column with. Fighters against Maidan are quite different.
…On my way to the march, I met my schoolmate in the railway station, he was going to see off his friend moving to the USA. It looked symbolic, unfortunately…
A few months ago, the Mediateka i mir journal (‘Multimedia library and the world’, the journal is published by the Russian State Library in Moscow, formerly known as ‘the Lenin Library’, and deals with new information and telecommunication technologies, especially in library services) asked me to write a short report about the section ‘Russia in the First World War’ on the website of the Institute of Scientific Information for Social Sciences where I work. The result is here (in Russian) 😉 Nothing extraordinary, but nevertheless, one more publication 🙂
Institute of Scientific Information for Social Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences, German Historical Institute in Moscow and Centre for French and Russian studies in Moscow are going to organize an international web-conference “Russia in the First World War: New trends and research directions” in August–October. The main goal of the conference is to discuss the modern approaches to the history of Russia’s participation in World War I, new viewpoints and interpretations, new research directions and their perspectives. The official announcement can be seen here (in Russian) 🙂
An interesting material has appeared on the website of the Doctor Web company, well-known for its antivirus software. They added a new function into their products not long ago: since version 9.0, Dr.Web antivirus for Windows can block not only websites infected with malicious software, but also websites with piratical content (a user can disable this function); the reason is that when downloading such a content, one can receive a virus in addition. A new survey was also begun on the company’s website on 5 February (in Russian only, finished on 15 February) – whether such a feature is really necessary. Its results are more than clear: although 75 percent of respondents agree that there can be viruses on piratical websites (where can’t they be?), and only 42 percent ‘certainly would not buy’ an antivirus ‘that has a function of informing the user that visiting piratic websites is undesirable (which can be disabled, however)’ (41 percent don’t mind to buy such a software), yet 56 percent of respondents are going to turn off this function and to decide themselves which websites they shouldn’t visit. What is more, 61 percent of respondents think such a function is not required in an antivirus at all (and it’s in fact reasonable because a function like this is of not so great importance for protecting the computer against viruses).
Probably these answers were an unpleasant surprise for developers of Dr.Web because as early as 17 February, two days after the survey was over, a new article was published on the company’s website (in Russian only). The text is rather incoherent, even hysterical, full of resentment and, I would say, with little respect to the participants of the survey; the author simply insists all the users of piratical software are no more than ill-mannered, screwed-up, irresponsible outcasts who can’t respect not only the others’ work, but also the others’ care about their own well-being (that is, the new function of blocking the access to piratic websites). All the arguments about often unreasonable prices for licensed software are rejected completely: the author thinks these are nothing but a pretext. I’m afraid he (or she) has absolutely no experience of salary of $500 a month or even less, which is still quite usual in Russia, for example for a school teacher in the country, or even for a scientist at a state research institution.
Honestly speaking, I didn’t expect such an approach to the clients’ opinion. Hope this article is no more than a private view of its anonymous author and its publication won’t be followed by any changes for the worse in the company’s licensing policy or in the quality of its software which I’ve used (legally) for quite a long time and still recommend to my friends and colleagues in spite of the doubtful assertions of the developers.
