The Dacha Kingdom

For generations of Russian urbanites dachas have been their lifeline. Today, more than half of urban families own these retreats for recreation and privacy. Wooden or marble, big or small, a dacha is more than a house, a plot, a lifestyle. It is rather a cultural indicator of what is happening in Ru [...]
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For generations of Russian urbanites dachas have been their lifeline. Today, more than half of urban families own these retreats for recreation and privacy. Wooden or marble, big or small, a dacha is more than a house, a plot, a lifestyle. It is rather a cultural indicator of what is happening in Russian society. A dacha “may be not more than a shed, but for Russians it’s heaven,” writes Washington Post’s Moscow correspondent in his praise of the exurban Russian Arcadia.

This book encompasses summertime cultural encounters around the Baltic during the 20th and 21st centuries, as told by more than 30 international scholars.

"This volume would make a nice addition to most research libraries and is certainly likely to interest anyone working on leisure culture in Russia or the history of the dacha specifically."

- Emily D. Johnson, University of Oklahoma

(Slavic Review, vol. 69, no. 3 (Fall 2010).