The Story of Russia

Figes's 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 Russia's history, its people's 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 nation's past have been used to shape its autocratic present * Observer * If you really want to understand Putin's Russia today, anchored in its past of myths, then you simply have to read Figes's superb account in The Story of Russia -- Antony Beevor Figes's 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, it's 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 historian's latest work on Russia is a lucid chronological journey that ably illustrates how narratives from the nation's 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 . . . Figes's book offers a valuable, instructive overview * Independent * Anyone who wants to detox from Putin's mythomanic claims about Russia's history and what it means for today's world will find some relief in The Story of Russia . . . Figes presents Russia's 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 country's 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 Figes's latest book provides fascinating insights into this contemporary conundrum. The Story of Russia is a truly incisive and important dissection of Russia's 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 *