Censorship took many forms in Imperial Russia. First published in 1982, Fighting Words focuses on the most common form: the governmental system that screened written works before or after publication to determine their acceptability. Charles A. Ruud shows that, despite this system, the nineteenth-century Russian Imperial government came to grant far more extensive legal publishing freedoms than most Westerners realize, adopting a more liberal attitude towards the press by permitting it a position recognized by law.

Fighting Words also reveals, however, that the government fell far short of implementing these reforms, thus contributing to the growth of opposition to the Tsarist regime in the second half of the nineteenth century and the first few years of the twentieth. Now back in print with a new introduction by the author, Fighting Words is a classic work offering insight into the press, censorship, and the limits of printed expression in Imperial Russia.

Charles A. Ruud is a professor of history at the University of Western Ontario and the author of several books on Russia, including Fontanka 16: The Tsars' Secret Police.

Charles A. Ruud's profile page

'Fighting Words is an intelligent, unpretentious, and compact monograph, and scholars dealing with Imperial Russia will find it helpful ... Fighting Words is thoroughly documented, well written, and carefully researched. Students of the period will use it often and with confidence for some time to come.'

Russian Review