Short History of Russia

Returning to Another Country

AvJeremy Black

Inbunden, Engelska, 2026

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Beskrivning

The invasion of Ukraine in 2022 began a new episode in history and was surrounded by a miscellany of historical claims. This book is a succinct, up-to-date guide to the histories on offer about and from Russia, one that seeks to make sense of present issues and future prospects, as well as of the past. There is a heavy emphasis on war and international relations, but that is appropriate not only for the past but also for a present in which both are to the fore. Peter the Great (r. 1689-1725), an eager moderniser, was viewed as an un-Russian evil phenomenon in light of his denial of the divine identity of traditional Russian monarchy, his blasphemy, his theft of time from God when he changed the calendar, and his sacrilegious violation of the image of God in man when he forced men to cut off their beards.Vladimir Putin cuts off no beards, he is no moderniser; the fall of the Berlin Wall left him with an abiding mistrust of democracy and ‘People’s Power’. At Davos in 2000, American journalist Trudy Rubin asked a panel of top Russian officials: ‘Who is Mr Putin?’ None of them could answer, except to say: ‘He is the President of Russia.’ How did this KGB foreign intelligence officer become (temporarily) Trump’s favourite running dog of capitalism? To answer the question, we have to understand what Russia was. There is a continuity that will give us a clue about what it is and will become.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum:2026-01-15
Mått:228 x 29 x 158 mm
Vikt:525 g
Format:Inbunden
Språk:Engelska
Antal sidor:256
Förlag:Amberley Publishing
ISBN:9781398131064

Utforska kategorier

Europas historia inom Historia och arkeologi

Mer om författaren

Jeremy Black is Emeritus Professor of History at Exeter University. He is a prolific lecturer and writer, the author of over 180 books. Many concern aspects of eighteenth-century British, European and American political, diplomatic and military history but he has also published on the history of the press, cartography, warfare, culture and on the nature and uses of history itself. He sits, or has sat, on the editorial boards of History Today, International History Review, Journal of Military History, and Media History.

Recensioner i media

'Jeremy Black employs WWII to test the whole complex of his theses on Russian history and to confirm their validity. Analysis of the Soviet socio-political and economic system in the 1930s and WWII provides the author with the line of discourse for the post-Stalinist era. It reached the important fork in the road in the 1980s, when the natural die-out of the communist gerontocracy and factional struggle brought Mikhail Gorbachev to ultimate power. Jeremy Black recounts this situation in detail and follows in Gorbachev’s reforming years, full of different options. They unfolded toward the Soviet Union’s collapse, which, at the same time, became a resurgence of historical Russia. It is the outcome that Jeremy Black highlights with the subtitle Return to another country. In this context, the thesis is controversial, and nevertheless, it is a cohesive concept on its own. The author establishes its validity by discussing Russian history following the collapse of the USSR. I would not steal the intrigue by retelling the concept; it must be read in the author’s presentation. The concept of Russia's radical change and return to its intrinsic nature at once makes the book a must-read for everyone attending today’s Russia.'