Between Europe and Asia analyzes the origins and development of Eurasianism, an intellectual movement that proclaimed the existence of Eurasia, a separate civilization coinciding with the former Russian Empire. The essays in the volume explore the historical roots, the heyday of the movement in the 1920s, and the afterlife of the movement in the Soviet and post-Soviet periods. The first study to offer a multifaceted account of Eurasianism in the twentieth century and to touch on the movement's intellectual entanglements with history, politics, literature, or geography, this book also explores Eurasianism's influences beyond Russia.

The Eurasianists blended their search for a primordial essence of Russian culture with radicalism of Europe's interwar period. In reaction to the devastation and dislocation of the wars and revolutions, they celebrated the Orthodox Church and the Asian connections of Russian culture, while rejecting Western individualism and democracy. The movement sought to articulate a non-European, non-Western modernity, and to underscore Russia's role in the colonial world. As the authors demonstrate, Eurasianism was akin to many fascist movements in interwar Europe, and became one of the sources of the rhetoric of nationalist mobilization in Vladimir Putin's Russia. This book presents the rich history of the concept of Eurasianism, and how it developed over time to achieve its present form.

Goes a long way toward meeting the need for a multicisciplinary and multiethnic understanding of this important and fascinating current in modern Russian history. [These essays] advance our understanding of Eurasianism's origins, the contexts within which it took shape as a movement among emigre and exile circles in interwar Europe, and its legacies across time and space—from interwar Japan to late Soviet and contemporary Russia. This volume should help readers formulate their own answers to key questions on Russia's historical identity and the future trajectory of the post-Soviet space and the peoples that inhabit that space.

* Russian Review *

A superb collection and brilliant achievement. Each chapter builds on previous ones to provide an original and path-breaking study of the very complex movement that we call 'Eurasianism.' Undoubtedly a landmark publishing event in the field.

* Richard Sakwa, University of Kent *

An innovative, well rounded volume that will certainly occupy a prominent place in the literature on the Eurasianist movement.

* Nathaniel Knight, Seton Hall University *

Marlene Laruelle, Ph.D., is an Associate Director and Research Professor at the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (IERES), Elliott School of International Affairs at the George Washington University. She is also a Co-Director of