Trajectories of actualization of historical research: about the book “Life in a catastrophe: everyday life of the population of the Urals in 1917-1922” by I.V. Narskii

The article is devoted to the consideration of the monographic research of I.V. Narskii, describing the content of the book and its place in both Russian and foreign historiography. Suggestions are made regarding the possibilities for further use of the author's ideas. Published in 2001, Narskii's monograph garnered attention for its extensive use of sources from archives in Moscow and the Urals, as well as its innovative methodological framework. Narskii was among the first to employ the history of everyday life approach, which was primarily developed by German historians. Skillful application of this approach, accompanied by a switch in research perspective and a change in the scale of description, allowed the researcher to re-construct various aspects of the life and survival of “little people” in a “turning point in history,” an era of enormous social catastrophe. Innovative in many respects, the monograph has had a significant impact not only on Russian, but also on foreign historiography. Now, in a different social and academic situation, the book remains relevant and stimulates new research. Other authors have used it as a reference for different historiographical directions, such as the history of emotions. Narskii’s observations, conclusions and assumptions can also be applied to the study of the new political elites of revolutionary Russia, the tactics of individual and group survival during times of social catastrophe, and the history of political culture of the revolutionary era.