The Story of Russia

"An indispensable manual for making sense of Russia's present . . . The Story of Russia shows how myth and fact mix dangerously in the tales this crucial country tells about itself."
--The Guardian

"A lucid chronological journey that ably illustrates how narratives from Russia's past have been used to shape its autocratic present."
--The Observer

"Impressive and deeply immersive . . . Figes speaks on every page in the crisp, sober manner of a newsreader, while observing the action unfold with an eagle's eye . . . It will be a small tragedy if Russia-watchers don't read The Story of Russia."
--Sara Wheeler, The Spectator

"Excellent."
--The Times (UK)

"Crucially relevant . . . convincing . . . A lucid, astute text that unpacks the myths of Russian history to help explain present-day motivations and actions."
--Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"Rich and immersive . . . Figes's fluid prose keeps the jam-packed narrative from getting bogged down in intricate historical matters. Russophiles will savor this illuminating survey."
--Publishers Weekly

"Nowhere is politics defined more by history than in Russia. Nowhere is the line between myth and history so blurred and nowhere is distinguishing the two more consequential. The Story of Russia by Orlando Figes is both a brilliant work of historical scholarship and an essential contribution to deciphering our current crisis."
--Adam Tooze, author of Crashed

"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, author of Stalingrad

"A magnificent, magisterial thousand-year history of Russia by one of the masters of Russian scholarship."
--Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of Stalin

"A book of singular power and significance and exquisite prose that takes us to the beating heart of history and culture and helps us to understand our own times as well as those past. A stunningly precise and affecting read, one that left me wanting even more from this brilliant writer."
--Philippe Sands, author of East West Street

"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, creator of The Crown

"A brilliantly concentrated meditation on the power of myth and history, and the ability of both to form and deform, guide and misguide, the present. Thoughtful, nuanced, beautifully written and above all persuasive, it shows how we are all trapped in the loops and coils of myth, memory and forgetting, and demonstrates the urgent need for historians to remember, and insist on the truth. The Story of Russia acts as a brilliant political counterpart to Figes' wonderful cultural history, Natasha's Dance. The two books now stand together, perfectly complimentary wings of a diptych of genius, the crowning works of a great historian at the peak of his powers."
--William Dalrymple, author of The Anarchy