Traveller's History of Russia

by Peter Neville, David Woodroffe

A Traveller's History of Russia gives a comprehensive survey of the country's past from the earliest times through the era of "perestroika" and the end of the Soviet Union right up to the present day. The reader first learns about prehistoric Russia and its nomadic invaders, then the rise of Muscovy with its colorful panoply of rulers from Ivan Moneybags to Ivan the Terrible; the despotism of the Romanovs and the Russian Revolution are discussed in depth. Then follows an account of the rise of the Soviet state, its world role and recent changes. The up-to-the-minute conclusion analyzes the Soviet collapse and its devolution into 15 separate republics, the tragedy of the Chechen War, and Vladimir Putin's election. This handy paperback is fully indexed with a chronology of major events and a gazetteer cross-referenced to the main text. Illustrated with line drawings and historical maps.

Genres: History, Travel, Nonfiction, Russia

336 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Angelique · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's too academic for 'fun' reading and a whole history of Russia in less than 300 pages is a bit much. It moved too quickly and was inconsistent. It was a readible, but heavy read and I only wish it had more interesting factoids (such as when Lenin had a stroke, his vocabulary was limited to 'Lloyd George' and 'conference'). I read it for enriching my knowedge on a few Russians, but there would only be a few pages about them, as the book had a lot to cover. It feels like it has been edited down a bit too much!

[Adam Deverell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've always enjoyed the Traveller's History series. They're meat and vegetable history - nothing spicy, nothing spectacular, just honest, straightforward history. Peter Neville's Russia is much the same.

A pacey look through the highlights of Russian history - Peter the Great, Ivan the Terrible, Catherine all have chapters dedicated to them. There's much more of a focus on the tumultous 20th century, understandably. Each chapter also briefly mentions the artistic, foreign relations and military highlights of the century/era, but nothing substantial.

In the end, it's an easy enough read for traveller's who don't want to wade through a dense history. There's little analysis or editorial in Neville's telling, but I found it lively enough - some of the Traveller's series can be a bit dry. The edition I read was awkwardly updated in some ways. The tense was inconsistent and it was very clear where the editor/writer has gone back to amend some of the chapters.

There's something to be said about accessible histories. I'd like to see the approach to graphic content change though - break out boxes, quirky history facts, highlighted text, etc. I think an approach the mixed Lonely Planet guide book aesthetics (since it is a Traveller's History) mixed with some Horrible History quirkiness would make the series stand out further.

[Harrison Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked up the fifth edition (first "American edition" published in 2006) of this book at a library book sale of withdrawn books. It provides a succinct history of Russia from the Scythians up to the ascension of Vladimir Putin. Unfortunately, the editing is poor, as there are many instances where the edition was merely updated by adding a sentence at the end of a paragraph, rather than editing the paragraph to reflect things that had happened in the past. For instance, Gorbachev is repeatedly referred to in the present tense, such as "Gorbachev is doing this." Further, the edition refers repeatedly to the current existence of the USSR, as in "even now [Yerevan] is the capital of a Soviet republic." The sloppy editing can be quite distracting, and even leading to incorrect factual statements. Hopefully, they do better in future editions.

[Alex Strong · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pesar de su breve longitud, esta obra de Peter Neville logra dar un panorama adecuado de la brutal historia rusa. Dedica suficiente espacio a los reinados clave de la dinastía Rurik, como el de Iván el Terrible, y a los de los Romanov, en especial los de Pedro el Grande y Catalina la Grande.
El texto es muy revelador en cuanto a la dinámica política de Rusia. Al parecer, toda la historia rusa y soviética ha sido una larguísima sucesión de un gobernante perturbado tras otro.
Me quedo con ganas de leer otro libro, más amplio, sobre Rusia.

[Mrs Reddy Mallender-Katzy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not saying there's anything wrong with the content of this book Except the fact that the writing is ver very DRY' it is also printed in the smallest most uncomfortable 'type' if it was larger maybe id bother to push through ? In all i read books for entertainment aswell as Learning and this book is like chewing cardboard so i am moving onto my next one & will find something easier and more enlightening to read about Russia another time

[Sandy Masia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good of overview of the long history of Russia.

[Jules]

947 Nev

[Tatyana Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Found this book abandoned on the street. Had a lot of fun reading it. Very interesting overview of history.

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although I count myself as more of a tourist than a traveller these days, I do like to know something about the countries that I plan to visit, more than I can get from the usual DK Guides. And so because I’d come across Robert Cole’s excellent and very readable Traveller’s History of Paris, I got hold of a copy of A Traveller’s History of Russia, by Peter Neville in the same series. But it was a bit of a disappointment.

Of course, it’s much easier to write about a tourist-friendly place like Paris than it is to write about a vast and complex place that has been hostile to western visitors for most of the twentieth century. In fact, you have to admire any academic or author taking on the Russians as a field to specialise in, because until glasnost the country was difficult to visit without restrictions, and it was obstructionist to anyone trying to find out what was going on. Washington and Paris may have had their occasional peevish moments, but they pale into insignificance compared to the intense hostility between the USSR and the West for most of the past century, when the Cold War threatened the world with nuclear annihilation on more than one occasion. I think that these factors must surely influence the writing of a book like this one.

From the 1917 Revolution until the fall of communism, Russia was ideologically opposed to the West, and the feeling was mutual. But even today there are clashes over spheres of influence as we can see with the unholy alliance of China and Russia over Syria. Russia still seems to be obsessively secretive about its 20th century history because (at the time of writing of this 5th edition in 2006) the country had yet to open its archives, which must have made it tricky for Neville to write about some of its leaders and the politics behind their activities. And as I know from my own bumbling efforts, the Russian language with its idiosyncratic cyrillic alphabet is also a whole lot harder to learn than any of the Romance languages, which makes genuine research even more difficult.

To read the rest of my review, please visit http://anzlitlovers.com/2012/08/05/a-...

[David Classing · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good, quick, basic synopsis of entire Russian history.