Before the Revolution: St. Petersburg in Photographs: 1890-1914

Rating:
Summary: A splendid photographic history of St. Petersburg
Review: A lavishly illustrated book, depicting the beauty the city of St. Petersburg before its bombardment by the Germans in WWII. Depicting everyday life as well as the monumental architecture of this historic city, with a brief history of this city of Peter the Great. The reader is also told which buildings survived destruction and which didn't. A must for any lovers of Russian history under the last Tsar.

Rating:
Summary: "Extraordinary view of life in the Imperial capital"
Review: The photographs on the daily life in St.Petersburg are exceptional in their composition and inclusion of all classes. The differences in the social classes comes alive in these photographs. Those of the workers and peasants are haunting and capture their downtrodden and meager daily existence. You can understand by studying these views of St.Petersburg that life was very different and the "haves and have-nots" are clearly evident. This a must book for those who make a study of this period an avocation and source of deep historical interest.The book must in the library of any serious historian or avid follower of pre-revoluntionary Russia. The architecture in St.Petersburg was amazing and the book captures all of the cathederals,public and private homes,bridges and market places that are no longer there.