Donald Ostrowski

Donald Ostrowski is a Lecturer in History at Harvard Extension School, part of Harvard University, and Chair of the Early Slavists Seminar at the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies. He specializes in the political and social history of medieval and early modern Russia, with a focus on cross-cultural influences on the steppe frontier.

His research interests span Medieval History, Early Modern Russia, Political History, Social History, and Slavic Studies. Dr. Ostrowski is renowned for his co-editing of the Russian Primary Chronicle (2004), a foundational text in Old East Slavic history, and for authoring Muscovy and the Mongols: Cross-Cultural Influences on the Steppe Frontier, 1304-1589 (1998), which explores the complex interactions between Muscovy and the Mongols.

He earned his Ph.D. from Pennsylvania State University and contributes to academic discourse through editorial collaborations, such as co-editing Portraits of Old Russia: Imagined Lives of Ordinary People, 1300-1725 (2011) with Marshall Poe.

Contact: don@wjh.harvard.edu.