Iver B. Neumann, Ph.D., is a researcher at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs and Adjunct Professor at the Museum of Cultural History, Universitetet i Oslo. He has taken a career-long interest in the differences between Russia and Europe and has published two previous books on the matter: Russia and the Idea of Europe (1996, 2nd edition, 2017) and Uses of the Other: 'The East' in European Identity Formation (1999). He has also published widely on diplomacy and statebuilding.

Introduction; 1. The steppe as the great unknown; 2. The emergence of the steppe tradition; 3. The steppe tradition settles down; 4. The steppe in the emergent Rus' polity; 5. Russia and Turkey between the steppe and Europe.