FWIW, I think the absolute best picture of turn-of-the-century life in Tsarist Russia is Sholokov's And Quiet Flows the Don, which I am currently rereading. The part where the Bolshevik agitator tries to win over the Cossacks by appealing to their past as escaped serfs is brilliant.
__________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com