This anthology introduces readers to Tsarist RussiaÕs emerging popular and commercial urban culture and the individuals and groups that produced and consumed it. The selections translated here illustrate in colorful detail how the experiences and the composition of Russian society and culture evolved from the late eighteenth century through the 1917 revolution, in response to economic, technological, and political changes. Fortunetelling and etiquette manuals, thievesÕ tales, childrenÕs literature, popular songs, war stories, womenÕs novels, satires of life in America, and vaudeville skits are just a few of the genres represented.