The Russian Chronicles: A Thousand Years That Changed the World

by Joseph F. Ryan, Lindsey Hughes, Orlando Figes

The story of Russia--a vast empire straddling Europe and Asia across a never-ending plain--is dark, enigmatic and tangled, and rife with paradox and mystery. In The Russian Chronicles the people themselves speak out and tell the story of this troubled land from its beginning to the 1917 Revolution, which marked the beginning of the Soviet state. Their voices are recorded in chronicles etched on parchment in distant monasteries, and in the hidden wisdom of folk song; in private letters from refugees and immigrants as well as official reports from far-flung governors seeking to bring Russian ways to Eastern provinces; and in letters and notes from writers who brought their culture from the past into the 19th and 20th centuries.

Genres: Russia, History, Russian History, Nonfiction

400 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1990

Reviews

[Allen · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book hit the trash pretty quick. It is pure Putin-style propaganda, the founding myth of Russia that denys the history of Ukraine and Belerus, terming everything as Russian from the founding of Kyiv onwards. Much of this founding mythology was developed by the time of Catherine. Old sources were destroyed and rewritten according to Russia's need to have a noble beginning going back many centuries before it even existed. They took Ukrainian history and twisted it to remove Ukrainians and insert Russians.

[Artemis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not bad. A lot of history to cover, but its pretty good and easy to understand.