Three major waves of anti-Jewish rioting swept Southern Russia and Russian Poland in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In this book distinguished scholars of Russian Jewish history explore the origins and nature of these pogroms, which were among the most extensive outbreaks of anti-Semitic violence before the Holocaust. The contributors look at the role of violence in Russian society; the prejudices, stereotypes and psychology of both the educated society and rural masses; the work of the Tsarist regime, especially the police and army as agents of order and control; and the impact of the pogroms on the sense of Jewish identity and security in the Empire. In his conclusion, Hans Rogger reflects on the pogroms in Russia and then broadens the study by comparing these riots with both pogroms in Western and Central Europe and outbreaks of anti-black violence within the United States during the same period.
