In this sweeping tale of history, one of America's leading Russian historians examines Russia's rich artistic legacy through the prism of its social and political history, synthesizing accounts of music, painting, architecture, literature, iconography, ballet, and cinema. Gorgeously illustrated and exhaustively researched, Between Heaven and Hell brims with the silent mysteries of Byzantine Christianity, the dazzling Imperial splendor of the czars, and the poignant return of brutalized exiles to their homeland.

Assessing the creative struggles and triumphs of such figures as Pushkin, Tolstoy, Tchaikovsky, Pavlova, Chagall, Pasternak, Eisenstein, Diagilev, Solzhenitzyn, and Brodsky, Lincoln shows how the collision of social contradictions, imported art forms, and creative genius gave birth to the quintessential Russian experience.