Through the centuries, Russia has swung between successful expansionism, catastrophic collapse, and spectacular recovery. This illuminating history traces these cycles from the late Neolithic age to Ivan the Terrible and Catherine the Great; from the height of Communism to the truncated Russian Federation of today.
The narrative takes in the magnificent cities of Kiev, Moscow, and St Petersburg, and stretches to Alaska in the east, to the Black Sea and the Ottoman Empire in the south, to the Baltic in the west, and to the Arctic Ocean in the north - asking what the future holds for Russia and her neighbours.
Praise for Phillip Longworth:
âThis attractive account comes from an expertâ - Robert Service, Sunday Times
âVivid, highly readable... brilliantly ambitiousâ - Literary Review
âAbsorbing... [full of] fascinating detailâ - Scotsman
âExcellentâ - Anne Applebaum, author of Gulag