The book contains a cycle of articles which were to give a general – yet, not complete – description of the main steps of development of the Russian social and political thought fro the eleventh till the fourteenth centuries. The author argues against the opinion that Old Rus’ was a country with a low level of cultural appropriations, just opposite, the culture of Rus’ was original, and its brightest and topics were constructed on pure national soil.
The book opens with an article on Russian chronicles; than, there is another one on the Christening of Rus’ – a bit out of chronological order. The next basic points for the author, the theory of social reconciliation and unity of the Russian Land, the struggle of Rus’ against Steppe, and the activity of Andrew Bogoliubsky. An important place in the book was taken by Cyrill of Turov, and Daniel Zatochnik. The book is closed with a discussion on the impact of the Tartar invasion, the growing role of Moscow, and the Kulikovo Battle at the social thought of the country.
The book is interesting as a monument of its time and a reflection of Soviet approaches to religious studies of Old Rus’: also it represented specific processes in the Soviet historiography of 1950-s, when historians, who had passed the ideological campaigns of the late Stalinist period (including the campaign against ‘adulation before the West’), tried to find new forms and new approaches in the situation of coming political ‘thaw’.