Russia: Myths and Realities

(Paperback, Main)

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'Wise and thorough' - The Spectator

'Brisk and readable ... very valuable' -Financial Times

'He is an engaging guide ... and writes with the same flair demonstrated in his previous bestseller Afgantsy' - The Sunday Telegraph

'A scholarly yet highly readable gallop through the last 1000 years of Russian history ... To understand this tormented nation, you can do no better than read this illuminating portrait' - Jonathan Dimbleby

Russia is the largest country in the world, with the largest arsenal of nuclear weapons. Over a thousand years this multifaceted nation of shifting borders has been known as Rus, Muscovy, the Russian Empire, and the Soviet Union. Thirty years ago it was reinvented as the Russian Federation.

Russia is not an enigma, but its past is violent, tragic, sometimes glorious, and certainly complicated. Like the rest of us, the Russians constantly rewrite their history. They too omit episodes of national disgrace in favour of patriotic anecdotes, sometimes more rooted in myth than reality.

Expert and former ambassador Rodric Braithwaite unpicks fact from fiction to discover what lies at the root of the Russian story.

Reviews

'Rodric Braithwaite's Russia is a scholarly yet highly readable gallop through the last 1000 years of Russian history. As befits a distinguished former diplomat, Braithwaite is judiciously opinionated. To understand this tormented nation better - and thereby how Putin came to launch his catastrophic invasion of Ukraine - you can do no better than read this illuminating portrait' - Jonathan Dimbleby

'Crucial ... readers seeking a more nuanced view [of Russia] will find Braithwaite's brisk and readable account very valuable' - Gideon Rachman

'Braithwaite tells us not to give up hope, at least for the post-Putin era' - Times

'Braithwaite's narrative, from the origins of Kievan Rus to Putin's invasion of Ukraine, is wise and thorough. It's the work of a man with a deep inside knowledge of and sympathy for Russia's people and their culture' - Spectator

'As Britain's ambassador to Moscow between 1988-92, Braithwaite witnessed first-hand the Russian fall from greatness that Putin is now trying to resurrect. He is an engaging guide, though, to the entire past Russian millennium - and writes with the same flair demonstrated in his previous bestseller Afgantsy, about the disastrous Soviet Afghan campaign' - Sunday Telegraph

Author Bio

Rodric Braithwaite was British Ambassador to Moscow during the crucial years of 1988-92. Subsequently he was foreign policy advisor to John Major. His books include the highly praised and bestselling Afgantsy and Moscow 1941. He lives in London.