Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Russia cover art

Russia

By: Gregory Carleton
Narrated by: James Cameron Stewart
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

Buy Now for £18.99

Buy Now for £18.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

Napoleon cover art
The Four Horsemen cover art
The Union War cover art
The Fall of Constantinople cover art
The Vandals cover art
Women Warriors cover art
The Ottoman Empire: From Beginning to End cover art
The Crusades Controversy cover art
Napoleon - In a Nutshell cover art
Napoleon in Egypt cover art
The Hidden History of the Knights Templar cover art
The Ancient Roman Sieges of Jerusalem and Masada cover art
Joseph Stalin: A Life from Beginning to End cover art
Osman I cover art
War and Genocide cover art
The Mind of the Islamic State cover art

Summary

No nation is a stranger to war, but for Russians war is a central part of who they are. Their "motherland" has been the battlefield where some of the largest armies have clashed, the most savage battles have been fought, the highest death tolls paid. Having prevailed over Mongol hordes and vanquished Napoleon and Hitler, many Russians believe no other nation has sacrificed so much for the world. In Russia: The Story of War, Gregory Carleton explores how this belief has produced a myth of exceptionalism that pervades Russian culture and politics and has helped forge a national identity rooted in war. While outsiders view Russia as an aggressor, Russians themselves see a country surrounded by enemies. Time and again history has called upon Russia to play the savior - of Europe, of Christianity, of civilization itself - and its victories have come at immense cost. In this telling, even defeats lose their sting. Isolation becomes a virtuous destiny and the whole of its bloody history a point of pride. War is the unifying thread of Russia's national epic, one that transcends its wrenching ideological transformations. As Putin's Russia asserts itself in ever bolder ways, knowing how the story of its war-torn past shapes the present is essential to understanding its self-image and worldview.

©2017 Gregory Carleton (P)2017 Tantor
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History

Critic reviews

"Vividly written and clearly argued, Russia: The Story of War is scholarship at its best." (Stephen M. Norris, author of Blockbuster History in the New Russia)

What listeners say about Russia

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    15
  • 4 Stars
    5
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    2
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    15
  • 4 Stars
    4
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    1
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    15
  • 4 Stars
    3
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    2

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

a fascinating and incredibly knowledgeable book

One of my very best listens on audible. Carleton has masterful knowledge of the place of war and war myth in Russia and an engaging style and very dry wit to boot. the narration by James Cameron Stewart is sublime and fits the text extremely well.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Fascinating and illuminating

This book gives a vivid insight into the history of Russia at war opening a new vista and perspective on sometimes long held myths promoted in the
west

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Very informative.

This book goes deep into the mindset of a people who, as a whole, feel betrayed by the West since the Mongol invasion in the time of Ivan the Terrible. It describes in plain language the sacrifices given in defense of the WW2 loss of Russian lives. This was unprecedented on a scale almost unimaginable. When put in perspective, the American lost fewer lives in the whole of the WW11 conflict than were lost in Leningrad alone. Why has the West now forgotten the debt owed to Russia?

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

General look into the Russian military mythos

This book is really good at explaining the culture of the Russian military and how this culture sees warfare. Really good book.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Russophobia at its finest

This so-called history is written through Globalist-colored spectacles.
It bows down to the west's MSM propaganda
You have been warned...

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

if you want a unbiased history of russia keep away

call this a history is a joke comic books are more accurate and unbiased

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful