Transformation on the Southern Ukrainian Steppe: Letters and Papers of Johann Cornies, Volume I: 1812-1835 (Tsarist and Soviet Mennonite Studies) - Hardcover

Harvey L. Dyck

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1442645067 ISBN 13: 9781442645066

Publisher: Toronto University Press, 2015

Synopsis

In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the Russian empire opened the grasslands of southern Ukraine to agricultural settlement. Among the immigrants who arrived were communities of Prussian Mennonites, recruited as "model colonists" to bring progressive agricultural methods to the east. Transformation on the Southern Ukrainian Steppe documents the Tsarist Mennonite experience through the papers of Johann Cornies (1789-1848), an ambitious and energetic leader of the Mennonite colony of Molochna. Cornies was well connected in the imperial government, and his papers offer a window not just into the world of the Molochna Mennonites but also into the Tsarist state's relationship with the national minorities of the frontier: Mennonites, Doukhbors, Nogai Tartars, and Jews. This selection of his letters and reports, translated into English, is an invaluable resource for scholars of all aspects of life in Tsarist Ukraine and for those interested in Mennonite history.

About this title

Review:

'This book offers a fresh look into New Russia's frontier communities.'

- Aileen Friesen - Journal of Mennonite Studies, vol 35:2017

About the Author:

Harvey L. Dyck is an emeritus professor in the Department of History at the University of Toronto. John R. Staples is an associate professor in the Department of History at SUNY Fredonia. Ingrid I. Epp is the former librarian of University College at the University of Toronto.

About this edition

• Publisher: Toronto University Press
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1442645067
• ISBN 13: 9781442645066
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 544
• Editor: Harvey L. Dyck, John R. Staples