Peter the Great revitalized Russia; he attempted to modernize the country by creating a new capital (named, appropriately enough, St. Petersburg) and founding a navy, while at the same time restoring the centuries-old practices of artistocratic privilege and serfdom. Russia in the Age of Peter the Great examines the contradictions inherent in Peter's rule while simultaneously looking at the social conditions -- from the arts to the "all-drunken assembly" -- that characterized his tenure. Russia in the Age of Peter the Great shows how one man revitalized a huge nation, and how that country responded to his sometimes controversial leadership.