'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 Putin's Russia today . . . then you simply have to read Figes's 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 country's 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 Putin's war against Ukraine. Spanning the medieval myths of Russia's 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 country's 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 heartbeat'
KARL OVE KNAUSGAARD
'The great storyteller of modern Russian historians'
SIMON SEBAG MONTEFIORE, FINANCIAL TIMES
'Figes knows more about Russia than any other historian'
MAX HASTINGS, SUNDAY TIMES
Review
A magnificent, magisterial thousand year history of Russia that is not only a compelling and elegant but also a lucid chronicle of characters, its tsars and tyrants, wars and massacres, ideas and dreams vividly drawn, its analysis of Russian power and empire essential reading today - by one of the masters of Russian scholarship - Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of THE ROMANOVS and STALIN: THE COURT OF THE RED TSAR
An expert on Russia delivers a crucially relevant study . . . Figes, one of the world's leading authorities on Russian history and culture, shows how, over centuries, Russian autocrats have manipulated intertwined layers of mythology and history to suit their political and imperial purposes . . . A lucid, astute text that unpacks the myths of Russian history to help explain present-day motivations and actions - Kirkus (starred review)
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
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
Orlando Figes is an outstanding historian and writer, he brings distant history so close that you could feel its heartbeat -- Karl Ove Knausgaard on THE EUROPEANS
There are a multitude of fascinating pieces of information to be gleaned from Orlando Figes's magisterial and wide-ranging book The Europeans . . . Relevant, trenchant and searching -- William Boyd on THE EUROPEANS
Meticulously detailed, exhaustively researched and written with Figes's characteristic verve . . . A sweeping tour de force and a monumental work -- Observer on THE EUROPEANS
Magnificent. Beautifully written, immaculately researched and thoroughly absorbing . . . A tour de force -- Peter Frankopan on THE EUROPEANS
Remarkable . . . Orlando Figes is a fine historian who combines scholarly detail with readability. His wide-ranging book touches on a multitude of subjects. But at its heart is a love triangle - the very human story of three remarkable individuals whose lives he has resurrected with great sympathy and insight -- Daily Mail on THE EUROPEANS
Figes in his maturity is a fine, subtle writer with a nice eye for detail and clever with structure. I finished the book entertained, informed and armed with the kinds of insights and questions that will keep me happily going for the rest of the year -- The Times on THE EUROPEANS
Figes integrates his analysis into a highly readable story, and he shows himself to be a master of historical narrative. Readers will find themselves absorbing a great deal of information and insight with very little effort -- Financial Times on REVOLUTIONARY RUSSIA
Book Description
A publishing event from one of our most gifted storytellers: the expansive and enthralling history of Russia, from its foundations to the present.
About the Author
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 Natasha's Dance and A People's Tragedy. His books have been translated into over 30 languages.
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