Emery, M. S. Russia Through the Stereoscope: A Journey Across the Land of the Czar From Finland to the Black Sea. New York and London: Underwood and Underwood, 1901.

            Written at the turn of the century, Russia Through the Stereoscope serves as an interesting booklet supplemented with ten very useful maps located in the back of the book. It was likely written at the time to serve as a personal reference guide of Russian history and geography. The language it uses is highly colloquial for the period, too relaxed to be a formal textbook.

In the beginning of the book there is a brief but detailed history of Russia beginning in the fifth century with the founding of the cities of Kiev and Novgorod, and continuing to the end of the nineteenth century, praising the progress to be made in the building of the Trans-Siberian Railroad. An account of the significance of Riga and the Livonian Confederation in Russian history is given in this essay, as well as significant interactions with Sweden, Finland, Poland, and several other Northeastern European States.

            Aside from this Russian historical background, there is little in this book besides descriptions of turn-of-the-century Russia and Finland, which are catalogued neatly in numbered sections. There are no modern-day accounts of Estonia, Latvia, or Lithuania. Russia Through the Stereoscope is a traveler’s account with minutely detailed descriptions of over two hundred specific scenarios in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Nijni Novgorod, Kiev, Odessa, and several locations in Finland.

At this point in time, Finland and The Ukraine were both subjects of Russia. Helsingfors, the then-capital of Finland, and the Ukrainian capital Kief were considered Russian cities. This booklet gives a firsthand description of travels trough the territories under the reign of the Czar in the early twentieth century. It is a highly personalized account and therefore at times is not a completely reliable source of objective descriptions of historical events. It is useful as a reference for pre-war Russian geography and culture.

(ES 2006)