Synopses & Reviews
Is todayandrsquo;s Russia capable of democracy, the free market, and a pluralist ideology? In this new edition of
A History of Russia, Paul Dukes investigates these questions, taking into full account the extraordinary changes that have occurred since the arrival of first Mikhail Gorbachev and then Boris Yeltsin. Substantially expanded and rewritten, this new edition sets these events within the context of over 1100 years of Russian history. Dukes reviews the successive phases in Russian history from medieval Kiev and Muscovy to the current post-Soviet Union, with distinctive sections on political, economic, and cultural aspects of each period.
With its breadth of scope and conciseness of presentation, this third edition of A History of Russia will be invaluable to students of European and Russian history, and also to students of Russian language, literature, and social science.
Review
"There are a host of general histories of Russia on the market and it is hard to think up reasons for issuing another, except perhaps to update older accounts. Mr. Dukes suggests two reasons that motivated him. First, he wanted to take account of Soviet historiography (he feels that has not been done adequately yet), and second, he wanted to incorporate more fully than he claims is normally done economic and cultural developments into an overall political survey. One might well take issue with him here, but Mr. Dukes has certainly produced a reliable and readable history. Whether it will supersede present standard histories, such as those by Riasanovsky, Billington, etc. is rather doubtful." Reviewed by Daniel Weiss, Virginia Quarterly Review (Copyright 2006 Virginia Quarterly Review)
Synopsis
The political, economic, and cultural aspects of Russian history from medieval Kiev and Muscovy to the present day .
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. [400]-421) and index.
About the Author
Paul Dukes is Professor of History at the University of Aberdeen and is the author of many books, including A History of Europe, The Making of Russian Absolutism, and World Order in History.