The Russian Century: A History of the Last Hundred Years

by Brian Moynahan

Making extensive use of contemporary accounts, Moynahan traces Russia's turbulent 20th century, from the last days of tsarist rule to the Bolshevik Revolution, two world wars (and one cold one), and to the overthrow of the Communist regime. Simultaneously a political, social and oral history, this book will quickly become the preeminent short history of Russia's recent past. Photos.

Genres: History, Russia, Nonfiction, Photography, Politics, Historical

288 pages, Paperback

First published September 27, 1994

About the author

Brian Moynahan was an English journalist, historian and biographer.

Reviews

[Barbara Backus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Moynahan has written a book for anyone who wants an understanding of Russian history and how it evolved over the past one hundred years, from the Romanovs up until the emergence of Boris Yeltsin.

It is is an example, for me, of the old saying that travel broadens one's experiences. I purchased this book in St. Petersburg on October 10, 2010 while on a trip to that city and to Moscow. My recent renewed interest in Russia began with learning the effect that Vladimir Putin is having on our own electoral process.

[RYD · Rating 3 out of 5]

This short book is a good survey of the upheavals that reprinted the rise and fall of the Soviet Union. If you need a primer on 20th century Russia, this is a good place to start. Author Brian Moynahan has a nice style and writes with a lot of verve too, as in this post-World War II passage:

"No relaxation came with triumph. The post-war years were a desperate time. Great cities had been smashed: over half the buildings in Kiev had been destroyed and three in four of its citizens had been killed or deported to Germany. The population was a fifth of the pre-war figure. Minsk was worse. Eighty percent of its buildings had been blasted away. Village Russia was devastated too. In the forests of Belorussia where the Germans had exterminated communities wholesale, tracts of land, so vast that the scale could be grasped only from an aircraft, were stripped of cabins, crops and people. One in five of all Belorussians had been killed or toiled at slave labor. Families across western Russia lived in caves, in drained water tanks and pits covered with tarpaulins. Millions of evacuees roomed in earth-floored barracks in the Urals or further east, forbidden to return to their old homes in the west."

[Joanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book covers Soviet history in the last century, from the decline of the Romanovs to the rise of the Bolsheviks, and through the wars and famine and changing of the guard 'til present day. It's mainly a collection of photographs, not too much text to read but Brian Moynahan's writing ties it all together rather well. It's as short a history you can write for the past century without cutting out too much, and as a newbie I can appreciate the starting points I have to do more research. The cultural bits really caught my attention in particular, and I'll have to look up some works by certain artists and authors later on.

It's a very valuable set of photographs that gives various viewpoints of Russian life, from the rich to the poor, or the well-fed and the hungry and desperate. I found the ones during collectivization and the famine to be particularly haunting. I had heard just a bit about that period of time but wasn't so aware - these photos will stay with me. This would be a powerful book with the photographs alone.

[Laura Edwards · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've referenced this book numerous times over the years. One minor quibble. Why is it the names of Tsar Nicholas II's daughters can never be labeled correctly in a corresponding picture? It doesn't take a genius to get it right. In this book, Maria and Olga are misidentified. If, as an editor or author, you're not sure, ask someone who might be. This is far from the first Russian photographic history book which has made this particular mistake. Other than tweaking that pet peeve again, an awesome book.

[Lauren Hopkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading Moynahan's history of Russia is like diving into a great novel. He takes events from the country's history and uses his talent for writing to make it into a book you can't put down. His details of the WWII period are especially fascinating. Anyone with an interest in this country's past should read this as it will offer fabulous insight and knowledge without getting tedious.

[Lain · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are many interesting pictures contained within, and the text is peppered with quotes and anecdotes from authors, statesmen, citizens, soldiers and peasants which adds colour and a breath of historical flavour to the narrative. I found the first half of the book to be pretty engrossing, and overall it was an easy and enjoyable read.

As a narrative it succeeds, but as a work of history it fails. Among the hundreds of quotes, anecdotes and other statements of fact you will find exactly zero citations or references. Tsarist society is viewed through thoroughly rose-coloured glasses: industrial workers had plenty of food and better working conditions than any other state in europe. The achievements of the tsarist state are praised, while its failings are barely discussed. The bolsheviks on the other hand are capable of nothing but evil, and the support they did have among sections of the populace is largely glossed over.

The second half of the book assumes a very explicit pro-american stance with strongly coloured and biased value judgements. The soviet armies that reach Berlin are described as nothing but "barbarians from the steppes of asia" who rape and crucify every german woman they find. The russians are ungrateful as well, since they did not share the perception that all progress on the eastern front was thanks to american equipment. The policies of Stalin post-ww2 are barely touched upon, and the motivation behind them are simple: evil for the sake of evil. Khrushchev is described as unstable and unpredictable, and Cuba is an act of brazen aggression, without mentioning the backdrop of US missile posture in Europe. The administrators of the later soviet bureaucracy and various dignitaries of the Warsaw States are all treated in a similar manner, most are introduced with a fittingly evocative adjective: geriatric, petrified, dimwitted, buffoon, henchman. The failures of the soviet system are enshrined, while the good that was achieved is written of disparagingly or simply not mentioned at all.

I had to laugh when the author added a note to explain to nickname of "Mineralny Secretary" (given to General Secretary Gorbachov after his campaign against alcohol). Apparently, soviet mineral water tastes salty and is considered undrinkable. I personally disagree, though some of the stronger varieties do simulate the experience of drinking water straight from the sea.

All in all a worthwhile read and I ended up buying a copy, mostly for the pictures. I would have given this 4 stars if the simplistic cold war rhetoric had been toned down a bit, and if a proper bibliography with citations had been included.

[Lucynell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book 25

The Russian Century
Brian Moynahan
1994

4/5


260 pages to cover about a hundred years of history is bound to be insufficient, even for casual history readers like myself. But the author writes this crisp, urgent prose that moves fast and is just fun reading it. That it alternates seemingly randomly between the particular and the broad should suffer from this urgency but not much. You're still swept away, so to speak. Our subject helps a lot. Very few countries can harm themselves like Russia can and yet despite of this, or maybe because of it, few countries can claim such ability to persevere. This, after all, is the country that first survived and then repelled the then colossal strength of Germany while at the same time suffocating under the murderous incompetence of its own dictator. Twice.

[Konstantin Dobrev · Rating 1 out of 5]

A book that claims that after the opening of the Soviet archives it was shown that between 40 and 60 million died in the Stalinist terror (in reality, the number is at least an order of magnitude lower) is fundamentally dishonest and useless in teaching anything about history.

[Elliot Duke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very entertaining history! Very easy to read.

[Michael Arden · Rating 5 out of 5]

The whole cataclysmic history of Russia and the Soviet Union during the 20th century is told here in archival photographs in an oversize coffee table book. Reviewing a tragic history that left millions dead or exiled to Siberia in the wake of revolution, civil war, forced collectivization and terror under Stalin, and war with Nazi Germany followed by the Cold War with the West, it is remarkable to reflect that Russia in its Soviet phase still managed to progress to the point it became the world's second superpower until its ultimate collapse. The breakup, accompanied by regional wars along ethnic lines in the early 1990s, has left a lasting legacy of recriminations as Russia forges a new path in the 21st century. The chapters on the last days of the tsar, Lenin's violent rise, Stalinist collectivization and the Great Purge, the Russo-German War, and the regimes of Khrushchev, Brezhnev and Gorbachev are uniformly excellent, giving new insight into unfolding events that drastically impacted the lives of millions of citizen. Organized around a superb collection of photographs assembled from Soviet and Russian archives and accompanied by the pithy writing of British journalist, Brian Moynahan, THE RUSSIAN CENTURY comes highly recommended for anyone interested in acquiring a basic a grasp of modern Russian history.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written in 1994, it gives a concise overview of the state of Russia in the last years of the Romanovs on to the first years of post-Soviet times. Now, I've read a lot of histories in my time, and I've watched a lot of history unfold, but Russia was never something I focused on. They were always players, but I was overwhelmed putting their roles on the world stage in the context of their own history. The country was ripe for revolution 100 years ago, but holy crap, those poor people suffered unbelievably under communism for a long, long time.

[John E · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a 'history' of Russia in the twentieth-century, but an extended historical essay on the meaning and practice of Russia. Tsarist autocracy supported by the orthodox church created a glorification of elites, a violent suppression of the masses, and an unbroken distrust and cynicism of the whole population became the standard for Russian government that has not been broken. Glory and degredation has marked the "Russian Century."

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book! For me it functioned as a nice review of my Soviet History course, with a little extra pre/post-Soviet thrown in. Definitely lacking in detail, but the author does a good job of mentioning the relevant 20th century points and a great job of demonstrating them pictorially - particularly the Stalin and WWII years.

[5greenway · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bracing, unflinching gallop through Russia's 'long' 20th century. Written in best journalistic style, with an eye for the absurd and the horrific (plenty to choose from there), throwing about sources and eyewitness accounts without getting bogged down or bitty. Peters out a bit at the end in the early 90s.

[Jacob · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learned some things, saw some things, and became very thankful.

[Vera · Rating 3 out of 5]

Russia 101 -- if you've got a free week in you calendar.