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A Kingdom and a Village

A One-Thousand-Year History of Moscow

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A Kingdom and a Village

By: Simon Morrison
Narrated by: Curt Ford
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Brought to you by Penguin.

An erudite and entertaining history of Moscow, a city whose rich past offers crucial insight into contemporary global politics

Moscow stands at the centre of a nation comprising eleven percent of the globe’s landmass, eleven time zones and nearly one hundred and fifty million people, some thirteen million of whom live in the capital. A Kingdom and a Village vividly brings to life Russia’s heart and soul, tracing its transformation from a ‘big village’ into a metropolis of vast geopolitical import.

It is a stranger-than-fiction arc. The last century alone has featured invasions and battles, the destruction and reconstruction of sacred landmarks, and the collapse of the Soviet republic – not to mention the rise of an authoritarian leader who is a keen student of Russian history. Morrison reaches back to the city’s founding as a fortress on a river nearly a millennium ago. In the following centuries, any number of external forces – from Tatar Mongols and Swedes to Napoleon and Hitler – set their sights on Moscow, bolstering its self-conception as a glittering prize and site of perpetual defence and resurrection.

Understanding Moscow not only unlocks the spellbinding mysteries of Russia’s past, but also the grim logic of its present. A Kingdom and a Village is an essential guide to a people and a nation.

'A marvellous book' HELEN RAPPAPORT, author of The Rebel Romanov

‘Every page pulses with individual stories and historical insights' MARK GALEOTTI, author of A Short History of Russia

‘Morrison is the perfect biographer of Moscow’ SHAUN WALKER, author of The Illegals

© Simon Morrison 2026 (P) Penguin Audio 2026

 Civilization Modern Russia World Royalty Heartfelt Soviet Union Imperialism
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Critic reviews

A marvellous book ... It takes huge imaginative vision and a deep on-the-ground knowledge of Moscow, acquired over many years, to grasp the full dynamism of the city’s history. But Simon A Morrison has pulled it off. His ambitious, erudite account is vivid and compelling, a wonderful conjuring up of Russia’s great capital in all its beauty, fire and fury (Helen Rappaport, author of The Rebel Romanov)
[A] sweeping, judicious and elegant history of Moscow from the origins of the city to the present day … Morrison is brilliant in chronicling, rhapsodizing and dissolving Moscow all at once
[A] monumental, sweeping book … as much a history of Russia over the past millennium as a portrait of a city
[A] technicolour chronicle of Moscow
[A Kingdom and a Village] abounds in details that will surprise even the cultural insider… a brave undertaking amid the ongoing war and the shifting boundaries of Russian studies
An engaging book … [Morrison] works hard and successfully lifts scenes off the page … The prose is a model of clarity
The erudition of A Kingdom and a Village .... is matched only by its readability
Vivid and engaging … Morrison … brings [Moscow’s] streets to life
As Morrison shows in his technicolour chronicle of the city, beneath the petro-funded sheen, Moscow is a domain of purges, paranoia and ravenous power. History has shaped its character; equally, as much as that of any metropolis, Moscow’s character has shaped history, both Russia’s and the world’s
A sweeping, near-encyclopaedic history ... [Morrison] immerses readers into the past so deeply, they can see, feel, hear and even smell it ... [An] engrossing biography of Russia's capital ... Morrison's narrative is filled with arresting historical nuggets which throw an unexpected lift on the present
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