Original View of a Ukrainian Researcher on the History of Early Rus’. Review of: Tolochko, A. P. (2015). Ocherki nachal’noi Rusi [Essays on Early Rus’]. Kiev; St Petersburg: Laurus. 336 p.

This review reveals the conceptual and content side of the monograph of a Ukrainian specialist analysing the features and essential characteristics of the Old Russian civilization in a form intended for both the general reader and the specialist. The reviewer points out the relevance of the topic chosen by the researcher within the framework of the stated problem, the originality of the manner of presentation and conceptual approaches to the analysis of complex material, and the problem focus in the selection of historical facts necessary for understanding the processes that took place in Early Rus’. The reviewer emphasises the debatability of solving issues related to the presentation of the key issues by the researcher both when interpreting the most complex source data (and, above all, chronicle reports), and when reconstructing the actual history of the fundamental realities of Eastern Europe in the early Middle Ages. Special attention is paid to the theses of the monograph that take a new look at the socio-political, religious, and cultural aspects of the functioning of the Old Russian state as a relatively open and self-sufficient system that pragmatically used the tools of vertical social dynamics to stabilise society, the conjunctural advantages of the Volga and Dnieper trade routes, and the mass of goods specific to Eastern Europe delivered via them (including slaves). Along with this, emphasis is placed on the author’s unconventional approach to solving the so-called “Varangian question”, which is skillfully linked to all these aspects of the civilizational development of early Russia.