\'Wise and thorough\' Spectator\'Brisk and readable ...
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, more relevant to the rest of the world now than ever before..
Like the rest of us, the Russians constantly rewrite their history.
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.
The largest country in the world - with the largest arsenal of nuclear weapons - has been known over the past thousand years as Rus, Muscovy, the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union.
To understand this tormented nation, you can do no better than read this illuminating portrait\' Jonathan DimblebyWith its attack on Ukraine, Russia\'s future seems almost as uncertain as its past. and writes with the same flair demonstrated in his previous bestseller Afgantsy\' Sunday Telegraph\'A scholarly yet highly readable gallop through the last 1000 years of Russian history ... very valuable\' Financial Times\'He is an engaging guide ... \'Wise and thorough\' Spectator\'Brisk and readable ..
