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A Short History of Russia

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A Short History of Russia

By: Mark Galeotti
Narrated by: Mark Galeotti
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

Can anyone truly understand Russia? Let one of the world's leading experts show you how, using the fascinating history of a nation to illuminate its future.

Russia is a country with no natural borders, no single ethnos, no true central identity. At the crossroads of Europe and Asia, it is everyone’s ‘other’. And yet it is one of the most powerful nations on earth, a master game-player on the global stage with a rich history of war and peace, poets and revolutionaries.

In this essential whistle-stop tour of the world’s most misunderstood nation, Mark Galeotti takes us behind the myths to the heart of the Russian story: from the formation of a nation to its early legends - including Ivan the Terrible and Catherine the Great - to the rise and fall of the Romanovs, the Russian Revolution, the Cold War, Chernobyl and the end of the Soviet Union - plus the arrival of an obscure Politician named Vladimir Putin.

©2020 Mark Galeotti (P)2020 Penguin Audio 16th Century 17th Century 18th Century 19th Century 21st Century Modern Russia Imperialism Soviet Union War Military Socialism Cold War
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Just what I required - a short history of Russia. Listened over a condensed period of time to get a flavour of the panoramic over time.

Does what it says on the tin

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A fairly solid survey course on Russian history to act as a basis for further study. Mark Galeotti successfully manages to condense ~1100 years of history over a huge geographical area into 8 chapters. The writing style is vibrant, flowing and scholarly and keeps the reader engaged throughout. Despite this, the book is not without its flaws.

1) Whilst I feel Mark Galeotti should be focussing on the absolute key ideas of Russian history, it sometimes feels as though he's spending time talking more about topics which he personally finds more interesting.

2) The book typically covers events in a chronological order although somewhat long introductions in certain chapters can mean skipping forwards and backwards many years. Without pausing to look at a timeline, this can be disorienting.

3) The vibrant writing style occasionally becomes over the top to produce some strange phrases. Consider the following - 'the palimpsest is acquiring the hypertext'.

4) Historical sources are very rarely mentioned.

On a side note - In the acknowledgements section, I found out the author taught at a university I attended, though in a different department. This was kind of cool.

Good balance of information vs time

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I thought the defeat of Napoleon deserved much more as it was a huge leap for Russia.

Good introduction to Russian History

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The part I found most interesting was the final chapter, evaluating Putin's potential place in history.

Competent digest of topic

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Beautifully written, deeply researched and with a wise balance for the overall picture of Russian history.

A masterpiece

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