Book Review: Print Culture and the Formation of the Anarchist Movement in Spain, 1890–1915 by James M. Yeoman

Abstract

It is similarly implied in the characterization of his universaly, which sound more and more like legislative decrees as the book develops. Elsewhere, however, the narrative conveys something more contingent and less clearly defined, an unending attempt by Mazepa to navigate the inescapable realities brought on by the unstable geopolitics and contested borders lying between the Polish Commonwealth, Muscovy, Sweden, Crimea, and the Porte, not to mention the changing borders and complicated relationships among the various Hetmanates themselves. One way to interrogate this creative interpretative tension might be to integrate some conceptual approaches from recent empire studies, such as layered and segmented sovereignty or negotiated spaces of borderlands. A final thought: both the Russian and English edition of this unstintingly scholarly work end on a reflective and philosophical note, worth quoting in light of Russia’s current war against Ukraine. ‘One would like to believe that the time has come ... to learn from the tragedies and mistakes of our ancestors, and to listen to and understand one another’. Alas, it appears, not yet.