A Short History of Russia
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4.1 • 18 Ratings
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- $16.99
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
A Library Journal 2020 Title to Watch
"Terrific - and an amazing achievement to cover so much ground in such a short and wonderfully readable book." -Peter Frankopan, bestselling author of The Silk Roads
Russia’s epic story told in an accessible, lively and short form, using the country's fascinating history to help us understand its actions today and what the future might hold
A country with no natural borders, no single ethnic group, no true central identity, Russia has mythologized its past to unite its people, to justify its military decisions, and to signal strength to outsiders. Mark Galeotti takes us behind the myths to the heart of the Russian story, covering key moments such as:
the formation of a nation through its early legends, including Ivan the Terrible and Catherine the Great the rise and fall of the Romanovs, the Russian Revolution, the Cold War, Chernobyl and the Soviet Union the arrival of an obscure politician named Vladimir Putin and his ambitions for Russia
A Short History of Russia explores the history of this fascinating, extraordinary, desperate and exasperating country through two intertwined issues: the way successive influences from beyond its borders have shaped Russia, and the way Russians came to terms with this influence, writing and rewriting their past to understand their present and try to shape their future. In turn, this self-invented history has come to affect not just their constant nation-building project but also their relations with the world.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Think tank scholar Galeotti (We Need to Talk About Putin) explores the links between national identity, mythmaking, and statecraft in this brisk and idiosyncratic rundown of Russia's 1,000-year history. Revealing how "grand historical narratives" cobbled from legends and twisted facts have been used to justify expansionist policies and "state-building schemes" from the 10th century to today, Galeotti rehashes the conquests, alliances, and conspiracies that make up Russia's complex past. He debunks the "convenient" myth that Mongol dominion from 1240 until 1480 cut off Russia from Renaissance Europe and predisposed it to "despotism," and notes that the Prussian-born monarch Catherine the Great exploited "tenuous" genealogical links to a Viking dynasty and an 800-year-old myth to take the Russian throne in the 18th century. The persistent theme wielded by Lenin to build socialism, Stalin to modernize the Soviet Union, and Putin to seize the Crimea behind these and other historical narratives, Galeotti writes, is that Russia's "greater destiny" justifies its actions. Experts may balk at Galeotti's self-acknowledged "broad brush" (Napoleon's 1812 invasion only gets a few paragraphs, for instance), but he often finds clarity through concision and down-to-earth prose. This is an accessible and illuminating summary of how modern Russia came to be.
