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The Story of Russia Audiobook
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Publisher Description
From “the great storyteller of Russian history” comes a brilliantly colored account of the myths that have shaped and reshaped Russia’s identity and politics from its founding
Who were the Rus, the ancient tribe from which the Russians trace their origins? Were they Baltic Slavs, hailing from within the territory that would become Russia? Or were they Vikings from Scandinavia, who came in from the outside to organize chaotic warring groups? Russians initially embraced the former theory, following a surge in nationalist sentiment, but autocrats, including Catherine the Great, came to trumpet the latter, which supported the notion that the Russian people are incapable of self-governance. Both sides were using history to create myths, narratives of national identity that could be deployed for their own political ends.
The Story of Russia is about how the Russians defined themselves―and repeatedly reinvented such definitions along the way. Moving from Russia’s agrarian beginnings in the first millennium to subsequent periods of monarchy, totalitarianism, and perestroika, all the way up to Vladimir Putin and his use of myths of Russian history to bolster his regime, celebrated historian Orlando Figes examines the ideas that have guided the country’s actions: the need for autocracy to rule Russia’s vast land; the veneration of the “Holy Tsar” and the cult of the leader; the belief in an essentially Russian collectivist spirit; and the oscillation between Russia’s European and Eurasian character.
With beautiful writing and alluring perspectives, The Story of Russia is as much about the myths and ideologies that have shaped Russian history―about the ways the Russians have interpreted their past―as it is about the events, institutions, social groups, and leaders that have made that history. And as modern Russia retreats from Europe, this authoritative account of Russia’s past might well elucidate its future.
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“Stefan Rudnicki is a splendid narrator for this work. His deep, stentorian voice moves at the right pace. His enunciation is crisp, and…he certainly makes this a most interesting production.”
— AudioFile
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“Excellent.”
— The Times (London) -
“An indispensable manual for making sense of Russia’s present.”
— The Guardian (London) -
“A lucid chronological journey that ably illustrates how narratives from Russia’s past have been used to shape its autocratic present.”
— The Observer (London) -
“Crucially relevant…A lucid, astute text that unpacks the myths of Russian history to help explain present-day motivations and actions.”
— Kirkus Reviews (starred review) -
“A magnificent, magisterial thousand-year history of Russia by one of the masters of Russian scholarship.”
— Simon Sebag Montefiore, New York Times bestselling author -
“To understand Putin’s Russia today, anchored in its past of myths, then you simply have to read Figes’s superb account in The Story of Russia.”
— Antony Beevor, author of Stalingrad -
“This is the essential backstory, the history book that you need if you want to understand modern Russia and its wars with Ukraine, with its neighbors, with America, and with the West.”
— Anne Applebaum, author of Red Famine
Awards
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A New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice of the Week
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A Publishers Weekly Pick of Most Anticipated Books of 2022
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A Kirkus Reviews Pick of Most Anticipated Upcoming Books
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About Orlando Figes
Orlando Figes is the author of many acclaimed books on Russian history. His books have been translated into over thirty languages. He is a professor of history at Birkbeck College, London University.
About Stefan Rudnicki
Stefan Rudnicki first became involved with audiobooks in 1994. Now a Grammy-winning audiobook producer, he has worked on more than five thousand audiobooks as a narrator, writer, producer, or director. He has narrated more than nine hundred audiobooks. A recipient of multiple AudioFile Earphones Awards, he was presented the coveted Audie Award for solo narration in 2005, 2007, and 2014, and was named one of AudioFile’s Golden Voices in 2012.