The Story of Russia

A magnificent magisterial thousand year history of Russia . . . by one of the masters of Russian scholarship SIMON SEBAG MONTEFIORE. If you really want to understand Putins Russia today . . . then you simply have to read Figess superb account in The Story of Russia ANTONY BEEVOR. From the great storyteller of Russia a spellbinding account of the myths and ideologies that have shaped the countrys past - and how they can inform its present.. No other country has reimagined its own past so frequently or endured such vast differences in ruling ideologies as Russia. This story begins in the first millennium when the Viking-Slavic state of Kievan Rus was formed and ends with Putins war against Ukraine. Spanning the medieval myths of Russias holy mission the popular belief in a paternal tsar and the notion of the Russian soul Orlando Figes explores the ideas that have guided the countrys actions throughout its long and troubled history.. The Story of Russia is about the stories the Russians have told of their past and the ideas that have shaped those stories as much as it is about the events and institutions social groups and leaders that make up that history. Here Figes brings into sharp relief the recurrent themes that remain so important in understanding the country today through the vibrant characters of its rich history: 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.. Beautifully written and based on a lifetime of scholarship The Story of Russia is quintessential Figes: sweeping suspenseful masterful.. PRAISE FOR ORLANDO FIGES. An outstanding historian and writer he brings distant history so close that you could feel its heartbeatKARL OVE KNAUSGAARD. The great storyteller of modern Russian historiansSIMON SEBAG MONTEFIORE FINANCIAL TIMES. Figes knows more about Russia than any other historianMAX HASTINGS SUNDAY TIMES