"an extremely timely book, for it is the first history of Russia which does the imperial theme full justice" Geoffrey Hosking, The Slavonic Review "the first attempt in any language to centre the whole of Russian history from the 16th century to the present day on the relations between the empire's ethnic groups...timely as well as innovative"David Saunders, English Historical Review

• 1. The Medieval Background.  2. The Gathering of the Lands of the Golden Horde between Sixteenth and Eighteenth Centuries.  3. Westward Expansion from the Seventeenth Century to the Beginning of the Nineteenth Century.  4. Pre-modern Russian Multi-ethnic Empire.  5. Colonial Expansion in Asia in the Nineteenth Century.  6. National Challenge.  7. Reaction of the State: Policy on Nationalities, 1831-1904.  8. The Late Tsarist Multi-ethnic Empire between Modernization and Tradition.  9. Nationalities Question and Revolution.  10. Change and Continuity in the Soviet Multi-ethnic Empire.