The Story of Russia

Figess book is an absorbing and enlightening read, a triumph of concision, analysis and insight * Daily Mail * A deeply impressive and deeply immersive book . . . The author sets out to reveal Russias history, its peoples perception of their past and the manifold ways in which those in power manipulate both events and legend to shape the present. It is a saga of multi-millennial identity politics * Spectator * To understand Putin's paranoia, read this book on Russia's history * Telegraph * A lucid chronological journey that ably illustrates how narratives from the nations past have been used to shape its autocratic present * Observer * If you really want to understand Putins Russia today, anchored in its past of myths, then you simply have to read Figess superb account in The Story of Russia -- Antony Beevor Figess book is an absorbing and enlightening read, a triumph of concision, analysis and insight * Daily Mail * An indispensable survey of more than 1,000 years of history shows how myth and fact mix dangerously in the tales this crucial country tells about itself * Guardian * A magnificent, magisterial thousand year history of Russia . . . its tsars and tyrants, wars and massacres, ideas and dreams vividly drawn, its analysis of Russian power and empire essential reading today -- Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of THE ROMANOVS and STALIN: THE COURT OF THE RED TSAR An expert on Russia delivers a crucially relevant study . . . A lucid, astute text that unpacks the myths of Russian history to help explain present-day motivations and actions * Kirkus (starred review) * Urgent and revelatory and brilliantly told, its all the things you pray a book will be when you first pick it up -- Peter Morgan Excellent short study -- Max Hastings * Sunday Times * The historians latest work on Russia is a lucid chronological journey that ably illustrates how narratives from the nations past have been used to shape its autocratic present -- Angus Macqueen * Observer * Figes skilfully assesses the evolution of the forms of government and society that inhibited the development of controls of the tsar * BBC History Magazine * Accessible and epic . . . A great introduction to an enthralling subject * History Revealed * An impressive account of the ideas, myths and ideologies that have shaped that country and the way its people interpret the past . . . Figess book offers a valuable, instructive overview * Independent * Anyone who wants to detox from Putins mythomanic claims about Russias history and what it means for todays world will find some relief in The Story of Russia . . . Figes presents Russias history in a straightforward manner * Irish Independent * Valuable book * Irish Times * [An] imaginative sweep and a capacity to encapsulate in a memorable way * TLS * Orlando Figes provides valuable lessons about the importance of mythologizing the countrys past in his sweeping new survey of Russian history * New York Times * Sweeping and concise . . . It is a skilled piece of compression * Tablet * This is a brilliant condensation his analysis of Soviet Russia is superb of a seriously complex tale * Spectrum * The Story of Russia combines profound knowledge and understanding of the longer, deeper structural processes of history with the personal experience of an author seeking to understand what is happening on the ground today * Financial Times * Orlando Figess latest book provides fascinating insights into this contemporary conundrum. The Story of Russia is a truly incisive and important dissection of Russias troubled past, both real and mythical, but it also provides a crucial context for understanding the present * Jewish Chronicle * This book is a timely reminder of the malign uses to which history can be put * Politics Home * A brilliantly concentrated meditation on the power of myth and history, and the ability of both to form and deform and guide and misguide the presen

Orlando Figes is an award-winning author and historian, who has held teaching posts at Birkbeck College, University of London and Trinity College, University of Cambridge. He was born in London in 1959 and studied History at the University of Cambridge. Figes is the bestselling author of nine books on Russian and European history, including Natashas Dance and A Peoples Tragedy. His books have been translated into over 30 languages.