The story of Russia

Orlando Figes

£10.99

In stock

How do the myths that shaped modern Russia, and their reinvention by those in power, rule the country today? Here, Orlando Figes breathes life into the narratives that make sense of the uncertain world we now find ourselves in. ‘The Story of Russia’ begins in the first millennium, when Russia’s lands were initially settled by the Slavs, and ends with Putin in the present day. From Boris and Gleb, the first saints of the Russian Church, to the crowning of sixteen-year-old Ivan the Terrible in a candlelit cathedral; and from Catherine the Great, riding out in a green uniform to arrest her husband at his palace, to the bitter last days of the Romanovs; Orlando Figes takes us on an enthralling journey through the collective mind of Mother Russia.

ISBN: 9781526631756 Category:

Description

A 2022 BOOK OF THE YEAR FOR: Sunday Times * Irish Times * Spectator * Financial Times * Telegraph * Aspects of History‘The history book you need if you want to understand modern Russia’ ANNE APPLEBAUM‘A magnificent, magisterial thousand year history of Russia . . . by one of the masters of Russian scholarship’ SIMON SEBAG MONTEFIOREA great historian at the peak of his powers’ WILLIAM DALRYMPLE‘[An] excellent short study’ MAX HASTINGS, SUNDAY TIMESIf you really want to understand Putin’s Russia today, anchored in its past of myths, then you simply have to read Figes’s superb accountANTONY BEEVORA lucid chronological journey that ably illustrates how narratives from the nation’s past have been used to shape its autocratic present’ OBSERVER‘A valuable, instructive overview’ INDEPENDENT ————————-From the great storyteller of Russia, a spellbinding account of the stories that have shaped the country’s past – and how they can inform its present.No other country has been so divided over its own past as Russia. None has changed its story so often. How the Russians came to tell their story, and to reinvent it as they went along, is a vital aspect of their history, their culture and beliefs. To understand what Russia’s future holds – to grasp what Putin’s regime means for Russia and the world – we need to unravel the ideas and meanings of that history.In The Story of Russia, Orlando Figes brings into sharp relief the vibrant characters that comprise Russia’s rich history, and whose stories remain so important in making sense of the world’s largest nation today – from the crowning of sixteen-year-old Ivan the Terrible in a candlelit cathedral, to Catherine the Great, riding out in a green uniform to arrest her husband at his palace, to the bitter last days of the Romanovs. Beautifully written and based on a lifetime of scholarship, The Story of Russia is a major and definitive work from the great storyteller of Russian history: sweeping, suspenseful, masterful.————————-PRAISE FOR ORLANDO FIGESAn outstanding historian and writer, he brings distant history so close that you could feel its heartbeatKARL OVE KNAUSGAARD‘Figes knows more about Russia than any other historian’MAX HASTINGS, SUNDAY TIMES

Additional information

Weight 0.316 kg
Dimensions 19.8 × 12.9 × 2.4 cm
Author

Publisher

Imprint

Cover

Paperback

Pages

348 , 16 unnumbered of plates

Language

English

Edition
Dewey

947 (edition:23)

Readership

College – higher education / Code: F

Join our Mailing List

Sign up to the Jaffé & Neale newsletters to receive updates on forthcoming titles we’re excited about, book club information and book signing events at the store.