Eugene Smelyansky’s new book, Medievalisms and Russia: The Contest for Imaginary Pasts (Arc Humanities Press, 2024) has been published. The book explores how the medieval past has been wielded to propagandic effect in Imperial, Soviet, and post-Soviet Russia. From politicians’ speeches to popular culture, from Orthodox Christianity to neo-paganism, the medieval Russian past remains crucial in constructing national identity, mobilizing society during times of crisis, and providing alternative models of communal belonging. Frequent appeals to a medieval Slavic past, its heroes and myths, have provided―and continue to provide―a particularly powerful tool for animating imperialist and populist sentiments.
