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guojing's review
4.0
This felt like a book from an alternate timeline, written in another 1967, one where the Romanovs had never been murdered and Russia never taken down the path of communism and thereby receiving the insanely profound hatred of religiously capitalist Anglosphere.
Instead, what the reader will discover as it makes its way through this book is a series of leaders and the mark they left on their land of Russia, from Kiev to the Pacific, ending with Peter the Great, two centuries before Lenin. Their cruelty and their greatness are discussed in not quite equal measure, but with a level-headedness beyond anything that one might have thought possible at the time.
Most of the important things I've heard about over my life as associated with old Russia are present, from a reference to Baba Yaga to the veche, from the awesomeness of Ivan to the incognito wanderings of Peter, from the eastbound Vikings to the westbound Mongols.
Great pains are taken to remind the reader that the negative perspective of Russia which has predominated across the western half of Europe for almost a thousand years can't be taken at face value, and that given their position between so many ruthless neighbors and in such a frigid land, the tender soul of the Russian necessarily appears rougher to outsiders.
Full of color pictures and illustrations, it was an easy to read overview of the history of Russia and should not be your final book on the subject, but if you're looking for a first book, this should be a good place to start.
Instead, what the reader will discover as it makes its way through this book is a series of leaders and the mark they left on their land of Russia, from Kiev to the Pacific, ending with Peter the Great, two centuries before Lenin. Their cruelty and their greatness are discussed in not quite equal measure, but with a level-headedness beyond anything that one might have thought possible at the time.
Most of the important things I've heard about over my life as associated with old Russia are present, from a reference to Baba Yaga to the veche, from the awesomeness of Ivan to the incognito wanderings of Peter, from the eastbound Vikings to the westbound Mongols.
Great pains are taken to remind the reader that the negative perspective of Russia which has predominated across the western half of Europe for almost a thousand years can't be taken at face value, and that given their position between so many ruthless neighbors and in such a frigid land, the tender soul of the Russian necessarily appears rougher to outsiders.
Full of color pictures and illustrations, it was an easy to read overview of the history of Russia and should not be your final book on the subject, but if you're looking for a first book, this should be a good place to start.
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