In a fascinating "urban biography," Michael Hamm tells the story of one of Europe's most diverse cities and its distinctive mix of Ukrainian, Polish, Russian, and Jewish inhabitants. A splendid urban center in medieval times, Kiev became a major metropolis in late Imperial Russia, and is now the capital of independent Ukraine. After a concise account of Kiev's early history, Hamm focuses on the city's dramatic growth in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The first historian to analyze how each of Kiev's ethnic groups contributed to the vitality of the city's culture, he also examines the violent conflicts that developed among them. In vivid detail, he shows why Kiev came to be known for its "abundance of revolutionaries" and its anti-Semitic violence.

..". one of the most coherent and unified collaborative works in thefield of Russian history." -- American HistoricalReview

"This book excels in capturing the colors, tastes, sounds, and smells of Imperial Russia's rapidly growing, ethnically dividedcities... " -- Journal of Interdisciplinary History

..".must reading for those interested in Russian urban and social history." --Slavic Review

"This is a rich and informative book..." -- Journal of Social History

From the Great Reforms thatbegan in the 1860s to the revolutions of 1917, the Russian Empire experienced aperiod of explosive urban growth. This unique and important volume examines thechanges it brought in eight of the Empire's largest cities.