Transforming Peasants is a collection of papers that focusesprimarily on the Russian peasantry between 1861–1930, with brief foraysinto Poland, the Kirgiz steppe, and Turkestan. Judith Pallot's introductionto the volume is informative and concise. She provides the reader with anexcellent overview of each paper and highlights each author's contributionto the existing debates within the context of Russian and East European peasantstudies. Pallot is well versed in the comparative literature on the study of thepeasantry and notes the degree to which new work on the Russian, Central Asian,and East European peasantries has been influenced, informed, and expanded bythis comparative material. What unifies the various selections inTransforming Peasants is that each author is grappling with the way inwhich the state, intellectuals, or educated society conceived of or“imagined” peasants and how these conceptions, in turn, influenced,shaped, or determined policy aimed at transforming the peasantry.