{"product_id":"questionable-people-inventing-modern-jewish-selves-in-the-russian-empire-1860-1890","title":"Questionable People: Inventing Modern Jewish Selves in the Russian Empire, 1860-1890","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBy Svetlana Natkovich\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eSyracuse University Press\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePublished in 2025\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e378 pages, 6 x 9 in\u003cbr\u003eHardcover\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"mobile-about-the-book\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"seemore-0\" class=\"slot product-about 9780394536460 isbn-related seemoreenable show opened\"\u003e\n\u003csection class=\"overview\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn the 1860s, a series of reforms imposed by Tsar Alexander II dramatically began modernizing and reshaping life in imperial Russia. However, for a generation of Jewish artists and intellectuals educated under earlier doctrines, the reforms became an opportunity to interrogate and construct a new view of Jewish identity. \u003ci\u003eQuestionable People: Inventing Modern Jewish Selves in the Russian Empire, 1860–1890\u003c\/i\u003e explores how these young intellectuals, the maskilim, used self-expression, fashion, dress, and their artistic work to define themselves. Differentiating themselves from what came before, maskilim crafted Jewish identities within a modernizing Russia.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhile many surveys of the Great Reforms and Jews in the Russian Empire examine assimilation and urbanization, \u003ci\u003eQuestionable People\u003c\/i\u003e focuses on the reformers themselves, their self-construction and work as unique to their era, rather than part of a larger transitional moment. Svetlana Natkovich analyzes the maskilim as a group existing between social and economic classes in a time of change, a generation of thinkers forced to radically assert their selfhoods. \u003ci\u003eQuestionable People\u003c\/i\u003e locates the common ground between the social and intellectual histories of Jewish modernization.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/section\u003e\n\u003csection class=\"overview\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/section\u003e\n\u003csection class=\"overview\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/section\u003e\n\u003csection class=\"overview\"\u003e\u003c\/section\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePlease note this book has limited availability.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eItems ship in 3-5 business days.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"YIVO Institute for Jewish Research","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48538834895066,"sku":null,"price":64.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0648\/4587\/3370\/files\/3941.jpg?v=1788297815","url":"https:\/\/yivo-institute.myshopify.com\/products\/questionable-people-inventing-modern-jewish-selves-in-the-russian-empire-1860-1890","provider":"YIVO Institute for Jewish Research","version":"1.0","type":"link"}