A History of Russia

From what I've been able to determine, this seems to be the state of the art in single volume Russian Histories as Russia comes out of "The Soviet Era" where meaningful histories were at best very hard to come by.As a long time student of history, I'm just now turning my sites to Russia, so I don't claim to be an expert. But when I started dating a delightful woman from Russian, my interest in learning as much as I could about her homeland was a natural. As I started to research the topic, I was a bit surprised to find how difficult it was to find thorough histories of Russia ... until I began to understand that "Soviet times" made serious treatment of history exceptionally challenging ... and Soviet times have only been a thing of the past for a relatively short period of time.So, given that there simply isn't as yet a wide variety of material available on this subject, it wasn't to hard to sort out which were among the best, and "A History of Russia" seems to be one of the top contenders. I use it in conjunction with the Penguin Historical Atlas of Russia (with tons of very helpful maps) and find I'm getting a great and detailed overview of Russia's past. I'll have a better feeling for how balanced and accurate this work is after I've had a chance to read more books on the topic, but it seems that this book is at very least a great place to start one's research of Russia's past.I will point out here, as I did with the Penguin Atlas, if you're looking for information on the ANCIENT history of Russia ... or, perhaps more accurately ... Russia's pre-history ... you won't find too much here. I don't think that's a failing of this book ... there just doesn't seem to be that much written history of what came before Kievan Russia or much archaeology of this area. Unlike nations such as Britain or Egypt where much was written and much has been excavated, Russia, more like the United States, has a very detailed history of it's recent past ... and very little detailed information about it's more distant past.With that said, I think "A History of Russia" is a great place to begin one's studies of Russia. Reviews by others with more expertise seem to suggest it's more than just a beginner's introduction ... but you should rely on their reviews for that point of view.

This excellent book, now in a ninth edition, is a comprehensive treatment of Russian history that never manages to get dull. It’s not a novel, so it’s not exactly exciting reading, but it’s an engaging textbook treatment. Culture and society get special attention and that is a good thing, considering how urgent those topics are to Russian history. For students, historians, or enthusiast of the topic, this book should be your go-to general reference.

On the one hand, I didn't dislike this book. It was very detailed and could drift into the boring realm at times, but it was also 816 pages long so what would a person expect? It gave a thorough look at Russian History and I would recommend it to anyone who really wants to know more. Sadly, I am not that thrilled with my retention of the material, probably because the class I used it in was 8 weeks long and very boring. A better class would have made this book seem better, I think.

Timely and in great condition.

Riasanovsky's History of Russia is an outstanding work. It is true history as he brings in the works of others with whom he disagrees and lets the reader decide. He cites specialists in various fields and yields to many of their views as they have studied their areas to a greater extent than Riasanovsky. I am reading the 4th edition. His coverage of the period through the Time of Troubles is outstanding and detailed. For those who are familiar with current Russian problems in the southeastern part of Russia, the coverage of the history of the area can give the reader a fuller understanding of why there are troubles today. His coverage of Ivan III and Ivan IV (Ivan the Terrible) are outstanding and fair. I would recommend this book for the serious student of Russian history.

I don't understand how the seventh edition had fewer language issue.... and this one, seems like a lot of translation issues and or just bad wording choices and grammatical errors. Now, I'm not saying I'm perfect about writing either, but it's hard to guess what the meaning of some sentences are, personally.HOWEVERThis book has amazing depth and I feel it really lets you gain all the aspects of Russian history on a broader scale then most "timeline format" history books. I absolutely love it and would buy it again.

Risannovsky was one of the greatest master minds when it came to Russian/Soviet history and politics. This book primary focus on medieval/imperial Russia from the beginning taking a lot of it's content from the Russian Chronicles.Despite the books being pretty heavy, the chapters are short and to the point. It's a good book to have on your personal library shelf if you're into Russian history or need extra content for any Russia history course. This book will come in handy as an excellent resource.

I read this in college 30 years ago and it was the best overview of Russian history around. Revised edition is still at the top of the list. Fairly easy read for a text book and recent historical updates are welcome additions. If interested in Russia or going to live there as I did for half a year, it is very worthwhile.

Excellent book for research.

very happy

I needed this book for my Russian history class for my university. I received this book pretty quickly in the mail - and it was in excellent condition. I can't complain! When I read the material, they were engaging and pretty unbiased from what I could see. It tries to offer alternative perspective on things. For example, I read about Catherine the Great, and for all the good things that were recorded in the book, the book tried to highlight her criticisms. One may say they could have expanded that section more, but it still tried to do it. I really like how the material is presented.

Used this book in college and it was one of my favourite classes. Ended up contacting my old Prof just to get the name & edition. Finally found it after searching forever. Great textbook!

Awesome Book.