To understand rather than explain

The authors are analyzing a study book ‘Source Studies: a Tutorial’, written by a group of authors from the Higher School of Economics (Moscow) and edited by M. F. Rumyantseva. While the reviewers are polemicizing with the authors of the book in the issues of understanding the historical source, and are criticizing particular inconsistencies in descriptions of the massive of sources for studying Russian history, they nevertheless estimate the book highly. Indeed, the reviewed book is representing a milestone both in the writing of study books in history and in the research field of source studies. The reviewers are emphasizing the innovative character, structural unity, impressive theoretical level and practical importance of the book written by Moscow historians, who are understanding the historical sources in a phenomenological way, in accordance with the ideas of the school of Moscow State Institute for History and Archives, namely, of O. M. Medushevskaya and her followers.