This volume examines areas of cultural production that have offered Russian women new freedoms and have opened commercial and artistic possibilities to them since the 19th century. Key aspects of Russian culture that have been systematically ignored are foregrounded here: Russian women's development of "popular" culture and their ingenious reinventions of "high" literature. The essays analyze women's creativity of every type—their products, performances, and collaborative exchanges—in sites that range from the bath-house to the ballroom.

Contributors are Nadezhda Azhgikhina, Lina Bernstein, Nancy Condee, Darra Goldstein, Helena Goscilo, Gitta Hammarberg, Alison Hilton, Beth Holmgren, Mary B. Kelly, Louise McReynolds, Nadya L. Peterson, Stephanie Sandler, and Ol'ga Vainshtein.