In Russian Colonization of Alaska: Baranov's Era, 1799-1818, Andrei Val'terovich Grinev examines the sociohistorical origins of the former Russian colonies in Alaska, or "Russian America." The formation of the Russian-American Company and the concentration in the hands of Aleksandr Baranov of all the power in south and southeast Alaska's Russian settlements marked a new stage in the history of Russian America. Expanding and strengthening Russian possessions in the New World as much as possible, Baranov acted in favor of his country before himself, in accordance with the principle "people for the empire, and not the empire for the people." Russian Colonization of Alaska is the first comprehensive study to analyze the origin and evolution of Russian colonization based on research into political economy, history, and ethnography. Grinev's study elaborates the social, political, spiritual, ideological, personal, and psychological aspects of Russian America, accounting for the idiosyncrasies of the natural environment, competition from other North American empires, and challenges from Alaska Natives and individual colonial diplomats. Rather than being simply a continuation of Russians' colonization of Siberia, the colonization of Alaska was instead part of overarching Russian and global history.

In this third volume of Russian Colonization of Alaska, Andrei Val'terovich Grinev examines the final period in the history of Russian America, from naval officers' coming to power in the colonies (1818) to the sale of Alaska to the United States (1867). During this time, in addition to the extraction of furs, other kinds of modern production continued to develop in Alaska, including shipbuilding, cutting and mining of timber and coal, and harvesting fish and ice for export. Grinev's definitive volume explores how certain economic successes could not prevent the growth of crisis phenomena. Due to the low competitiveness of products and the distributive nature of the economy, the Russian colonial system could not compete with the dynamically developing Anglo-American capitalist colonization. Russian Colonization of Alaska is the first comprehensive study to analyze the origin and evolution of Russian colonization based on research into political economy, history, and ethnography. Grinev's study elaborates the social, political, spiritual, ideological, personal, and psychological aspects of Russian America, and accounts for the idiosyncrasies of the natural environment, competition from other North American empires, Alaska Natives, and individual colonial diplomats. The colonization of Alaska, rather than being simply a continuation of the colonization of Siberia by Russians, was instead part of overarching Russian and global history.

In Russian Colonization of Alaska, Andrei Val'terovich Grinev examines the sociohistorical origins of the former Russian colonies in Alaska, or "Russian America," between 1741 and 1799. Beginning with the Second Kamchatka Expedition of Vitus Ivanovich Bering and Aleksei Ilyich Chirikov's discovery of Alaska and the Aleutian Islands and ending with the formation of the Russian-American Company's monopoly of the Russian colonial endeavor in the Americas, Russian Colonization of Alaska offers a definitive, revisionist examination of Tsarist Russia's foray into the imperial contest in North America. Russian Colonization of Alaska is the first comprehensive study to analyze the origin and evolution of Russian colonization based on research into political economy, history, and ethnography. Grin v's study elaborates the social, political, spiritual, ideological, personal, and psychological aspects of Russian America. He also accounts for the idiosyncrasies of the natural environment, competition from other North American empires, Alaska Natives, and individual colonial diplomats. The colonization of Alaska, rather than being simply a continuation of the colonization of Siberia by Russians, was instead part of overarching Russian and global history.

The Tlingits, the largest Indian group in Alaska, have lived in Alaska's coastal southwestern region for centuries and first met non-Natives in 1741 during an encounter with the crew of the Russian explorer Alexei Chirikov. The volatile and complex connections between the Tlingits and their Russian neighbors, as well as British and American voyagers and traders, are the subject of this classic work, first published in Russian and now revised and updated for this English-language edition. Andrei Val'terovich Grinev bases his account on hundreds of documents from archives in Russia and the United States; he also relies on official reports, the notes of travelers, the investigations of historians and ethnographers, museum collections, atlases, illustrations, and photographs. Grinev outlines a picture of traditional Tlingit society before contact with Europeans and then analyzes interactions between the Tlingit people and newcomers. He examines the changes that took place in the Tlingits' traditional material and spiritual culture, as well as military affairs, during the Russian-American period. He also considers the dynamics of the Tlingits' population, the increase in interethnic marriage, their relationships with European immigrants, and their ethnology.