Kelly O’Neill. Claiming Crimea: A History of Catherine the Great’s Southern Empire.
Journal: The American Historical Review
Year: 2018

Kelly O’Neill’s Claiming Crimea: A History of Catherine the Great’s Southern Empire is a timely analysis of Russia’s southern empire that positions the region as a pivotal arena for Russia’s developing relationship with its Muslim subjects. O’Neill focuses on the annexation of Crimea in the eighteenth century and its slow integration into the empire over the next seventy years, ending her narrative just before the Crimean War. O’Neill argues that her monograph “tests the concept of imperial topo