“A History of Russia”, by Nicholas V. Riasanovsky

 

776 pages, Oxford University Press, ISBN-13: 978-0195121797

The late Nicholas Valentine Riasanovsky was a professor at the University of California, Berkeley and the author of numerous books on Russian history and European intellectual history; his book, A History of Russia, has been reissued several times (my version is, in fact, the 6^th Edition). Widely acclaimed as the best one-volume survey text available, this book does what it sets out to do: present the whole span of Russia’s history in one volume, a history that spans the origins of the Kievan Rus state and the building of an empire, to Soviet Russia, to the successor states and beyond. Drawing on both primary sources and major interpretive works, my 6^th Edition updates its existing coverage of the social, economic, cultural, political and military events of Russia’s past, and even includes a new chapter on the post-Gorbachev era, as well as helpful updated bibliographies and reading source lists. I gotta tell ya that it’s a damn shame that Riasanovsky has kicked off, for while my 6^th Edition examines several contemporary Russian issues – such as the rise of Yeltsin, the nationalities question and Russia’s attempts to market capitalism – it is, of course, silent on Putin’s rise and the failure of democracy to catch hold in Russia. Oh, my beloved 6^th Edition takes the study of Russia straight into the new millennium, continuing A History of Russia’s nearly forty-year track record as the leader in the field, but how I would love to hear Nick’s take on all that has happened lately.