AWSS Heldt Prize Winners 2016

Best Book by a Woman in Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies

Honorable Mention: Erika Monahan, The Merchants of Siberia: Trade in Early Modern Russia (Cornell University Press, 2016).

The Merchants of Siberia: Trade in Early Modern Russia challenges received opinions about early modern Russia, such as the alleged risk-averse nature of its merchantry, and opens up a region and social caste to closer inspection. In doing so, Monahan not only describes a portrait of Siberian merchants as actively pursuing their financial interests, but shows the interaction between trade and state-building while placing Russia in a comparative global context that questions the view of the country as an outlier and shining a spotlight on imperial borderlands. Monahan integrates a broad range of archival, primary, and secondary sources into a compelling argument in a manner that is both engaging and clear.

Congratulations Erika!