As the first study in any language of the crucial social 'link' in rural Russia between broader society (obshchestvo) and the people (narod), Seregny's book will be read with great interest by all students or the late imperial period, Soviet and Western." --William G. Rosenberg This book is a timely and worthy addition to the... body of work on the 'democratic intelligentsia' of 'third element' in prerevolutionary Russia." --The Russian Review ... compelling and moving." --History Today ... this substantial volume provides detailed evidence of the complexities and ambiguities inherent in the day-to-day zamstvo-teacher-peasant relationship in the period preceding the 1905 Revolution." --The Slavonic Review ... carefully researched and well documented... " --The Journal of Peasant Studies