A History of Russia: Peoples, Legends, Events, Forces is a comprehensive narrative conceived and developed after the collapse of the former Soviet Union. Informed by the burgeoning historiography of the 1990s, the text balances political and economic explorations of everyday life, social roles, cultural dynamics, and gender issues. Many texts on this subject are written from a pre-Confederation point of view that may be unsuitable for today's classroom. This text provides strong coverage of 20th-century Russia and the U.S.S.R. without sacrificing its coverage of earlier historical periods.
I was very interested in History when I was at school and used to read a lot about ancient Greece, Rome and Middle Ages. This was greatly accessible in USSR. A few years ago I started reading history books again and was looking for a general Russia history book. I bought this one and recently started reading a few months ago, reading 10-25 pages every week now. A bit dry sometimes but really good in explaining various forces and pressures, cultural aspects and with plenty of maps and pictures. You may wonder why I, a native Russian, read in English? The reason is that I write books in English myself and voracious reading in English helps me to attain native fluency in written English. Thanks, Dmitry Vostokov Founder of Literate Scientist Blog
Best for Romanov Russia and Later
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 17 years ago
This is a very interesting and (overall) well written textbook which I used in Russian history. It should be noted that the book is written by four separate individuals, each of whom has a very different writing style. The early chapters (from Riyurik to the beginning of Muscovy) can be difficult to understand (upon meeting their author, I understand completely), but the book hits its stride with "Part II" and the advent of Lindsey Hughes's much clearer writing. Stites and Evtuhov are also easy to understand, but Goldfrank requires a rereading (or two) before you realize what he's saying.
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