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The Story of Russia

'An excellent short study'

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The Story of Russia

By: Orlando Figes
Narrated by: David Sibley
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Bloomsbury presents The Story of Russia by Orlando Figes, read by David Sibley.


A 2022 BOOK OF THE YEAR FOR: Sunday Times * Irish Times * Spectator * Financial Times * Telegraph * Aspects of History

‘The history book you need if you want to understand modern Russia' ANNE APPLEBAUM

‘A magnificent, magisterial thousand year history of Russia . . . by one of the masters of Russian scholarship' SIMON SEBAG MONTEFIORE

‘A great historian at the peak of his powers' WILLIAM DALRYMPLE

'[An] excellent short study’ MAX HASTINGS, SUNDAY TIMES

‘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’ ANTONY BEEVOR

'A lucid chronological journey that ably illustrates how narratives from the nation’s past have been used to shape its autocratic present’ OBSERVER

'A valuable, instructive overview' INDEPENDENT

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From the great storyteller of Russia, a spellbinding account of the stories that have shaped the country’s past – and how they can inform its present.

No other country has been so divided over its own past as Russia. None has changed its story so often. How the Russians came to tell their story, and to reinvent it as they went along, is a vital aspect of their history, their culture and beliefs. To understand what Russia’s future holds – to grasp what Putin’s regime means for Russia and the world – we need to unravel the ideas and meanings of that history.

In The Story of Russia, Orlando Figes brings into sharp relief the vibrant characters that comprise Russia’s rich history, and whose stories remain so important in making sense of the world’s largest nation today – from the crowning of sixteen-year-old Ivan the Terrible in a candlelit cathedral, to 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 a major and definitive work from the great storyteller of Russian history: sweeping, suspenseful, masterful.

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PRAISE FOR ORLANDO FIGES

‘An outstanding historian and writer, he brings distant history so close that you could feel its heartbeat’
KARL OVE KNAUSGAARD

'Figes knows more about Russia than any other historian'
MAX HASTINGS, SUNDAY TIMES©2022 Orlando Figes (P)2022 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Politics & Government Russia Russian & Soviet World Imperialism Socialism Soviet Union War Self-Determination Capitalism
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Critic reviews

Figes’s book is an absorbing and enlightening read, a triumph of concision, analysis and insight
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
To understand Putin's paranoia, read this book on Russia's history
A lucid chronological journey that ably illustrates how narratives from the nation’s past have been used to shape its autocratic present
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)
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
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
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)
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)
Figes skilfully assesses the evolution of the forms of government and society that inhibited the development of controls of the tsar
Accessible and epic . . . A great introduction to an enthralling subject
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
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
Valuable book
[An] imaginative sweep and a capacity to encapsulate in a memorable way
Orlando Figes provides valuable lessons about the importance of mythologizing the country’s past in his sweeping new survey of Russian history
Sweeping and concise . . . It is a skilled piece of compression
This is a brilliant condensation – his analysis of Soviet Russia is superb – of a seriously complex tale
All stars
Most relevant
Excellent review of painful Russian history so well crafted into present politics . Also a joy to listen to as so well narrated.

The story of Russia

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Overall; Figes provides an excellent history of a complex and turbulent country caught even to this day between East and West, autocracy and change, tradition and modernity. That endless schizophrenia has meant that civil society as we in the West know it has never established itself. Hence the rather depressing but nonetheless understandable conclusion. Thank you Orlando.
Performances; Excellent narration
Story; Excellent

A thorough history of an extraordinary country

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a decent summary of the country's history but less interesting/ deep than author's other books on the subject, expected more from it.

Good story but not deep

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This is the first Russian history book I've read/listened to and I'm completely blown away. This audio book is a great start for anyone wanting to learn about Russia. I have come away with a completely different view and understanding of the culture, politics and people of Russia.

The book didn't feel biased and more than anything offered the headlines of main historical events rather than an in depth exploration. However that was what I enjoyed the most because it gave me a starting point for other areas of reading. The information given was very easy to understand and well presented.

The narration was brilliant, perhaps flawless and made this Audible book all the more interesting to listen to.

A brilliant introduction to Russian history

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Brief, insightful and all together very interesting walk through Russian history from the Vikings to now. Loved it.

Excellent

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