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.īeautifully 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. 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. 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. No other country has been so divided over its own past as Russia. Henry Louis Gates, Jr.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. Pasquale Esposito (actor, singer, filmmaker) Éric Cantona (actor, former professional footballer) John Burnham Schwartz (writer, screenwriter) Ingrid Betancourt (politician, activist, writer)

Mikhail Baryshnikov (dancer, choreographer) Svetlana Alexievitch (journalist, writer, Nobel Prize winner) Paige Alexander (CEO of the Carter Center) Michael Abramowitz (president of Freedom House) This book of course is excellent, by a man passionate and knows his topic. So when he writes a full history on the story of Russia and the national myths that make up the nation, it can only hit the mark. He is also incapable of writing a bad book. authorities, and the European Union demanding his immediate release. Orlando Figes is one of the authorities of Russian history. We support the call of the German government, the U.S. Navalny is serving prison sentences based on charges which would never have been upheld under any independent legal system. A further 100 Russian lawyers and 100 regional deputies are demanding that the torture of Navalny cease and again that medical assistance be provided. We add our voices to those of the 600 Russian doctors requesting urgent and immediate independent medical help. Despite running a fever, he is required to stand all day. Visits from relatives and phone calls are forbidden, his attorney-client privileges have been canceled. He has been consistently returned to solitary confinement, squeezed into a concrete cell the size of a dog kennel, with no ventilation. As we write and you are well aware, Alexei Navalny is being held in IK-6, one of the harshest penal colonies in your country.

The story of russia orlando figes