Abolition of Serfdom in Russia Author:David Moon It was in February 1861 that Tsar Alexander II issued the statutes abolishing the institution of serfdom in Russia. The procedures set in motion by Alexander II eventually undid the ties that bound 22 million serfs and 100,000 noble estate owners. The Abolition of Serfdom in Russia shows how the reform process lin... more »ked the old social, economic and political order of eighteenth-century Russia with the radical transformations of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries that culminated in revolution in 1917. Rather than presenting abolition as an 'event' that happened in February 1861, David Moon presents the reform as a process. It traces the origins of the abolition of serfdom back to reforms in related areas in 1762 and forward to the culmination of the process in 1907. This is an up-to-date interpretation of this important development in Russian history, drawing on recent research by Russian and Western historians. As the latest book in the Seminar Studies in History series Abolition of Serfdom in Russia includes a document section containing selections from sources previously unavailable in English translation, a glossary of specialist terms, a chronology of the main events, a who's who identifying the main people and a guide to further reading For readers interested in Russian history.« less