Smith clearly demonstrates that the soslovie system remained at once both vital and obsolete.
Steven L. Hoch, Canadian-American Slavic Studies
The resulting work does not so much recast our understanding of imperial Russia as greatly enrich and deepen it... [E]xpansive treatment.
Valerie A. Kivelson, Slavic Review
this [the book] will surely stand as a landmark in the field, just as it will spur others on to further exploration of the meanings of Russian social boundaries.
Simon Dixon, Slavonic and East European Review
Researchers and advanced students of Russian history will undoubtedly find this a useful study
J. Zimmerman, CHOICE
Smith's study is a dense and ambitious examination of the meaning of the social order in Russia, built, from the ground up, of individual experiences rather than from a top-down consideration of the legal system ... subtle, but important, revisions to our understanding of the Russian government, where authorities relied upon the engagement of the public at all levels to forge its modern state.
Matthew P. Romaniello, English Historical Review
Alison Smith's book can provide a good entry point for historians in other fields to get a hands-on feel for Russian society and its fluidity and successfully controverts tired stereotypes of absolutism, social rigidity, and backwardness. It is a serious, archivally driven investigation of hundreds of specific cases of individuals changing soslovie
Journal of Modern History