Reviews

Russia and the Russians: From Earliest Times to the Present by Geoffrey Hosking

rozemarijnhoekstra's review against another edition

informative reflective slow-paced

3.5

themascarasnake's review against another edition

5.0

Amazing overview of what we now know as Russia - from the earliest appearance by the Russians in 860 right up to the start of Putin's reign at the turn of the century. Hosking's approach - to look at the history of the country from its earliest point - serves to outline many recurring features of the successive Russian states, such as their relative agricultural weakness, fear of invasion, desire to be seen as a great power and so on. Particularly interesting is the soviet era, and how many of the things that appear as a complete break with previous history actually arose from peculiarly Russian circumstances: communism is not so far away from the "collective responsibility" which governed most Russian villages for many hundreds of years.

All in all, a masterful work. I was sad it ended. And I want to go back.

clparker's review against another edition

informative medium-paced

4.0