Putin and the Return of History: How the Kremlin Rekindled the Cold War

by Martin Sixsmith, Daniel Sixsmith (Editor)

Overview

An original and informative look at Russia's thousand-year past, tracing the forces and the myths that have shaped Putin's politics.

After the collapse of Soviet communism, the West convinced itself that liberal democracy would be the dominant system of governance. However, in February 2022, Vladimir Putin proved it is unwise to make such predictions.

In the early years of Putin's presidency, he appeared to commit himself to friendship with the West. But the Putin of those years is unrecognisable today - an autocratic nationalist, dedicated to repression at home and anti-Western militarism abroad. So, what happened? Was he lying when he proclaimed his support for freedom, democracy and friendship with the West? Or, was he sincere? Did he change his views at some stage between then and now? And if that is the case, what happened to change him?

Putin and the Return of History examines these questions in the context of Russia's thousand-year past, tracing the forces and the myths that have shaped Putin's politics of aggression: the enduring terror of encirclement by outsiders, the subjugation of the individual to the cause of the state, the collectivist values that allow the sacrifice of human lives in battle, the willingness to lie and deceive, the co-opting of religion and the belief in Great Russia's mission to change the world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781399409858
Publisher:	Bloomsbury USA
Publication date:	02/03/2026
Pages:	368
Product dimensions:	5.08(w) x 7.79(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Martin Sixsmith is a bestselling author, television and radio presenter and journalist.

He began working at the BBC in 1980 as a foreign correspondent, reporting from Moscow during the end of the Cold War, the era of Perestroika, and the collapse of the Soviet Union.

In 1997, he went to work for the government of Tony Blair as Director of Communications and Press Secretary to Harriet Harman and then to Alistair Darling. He then served as Director of Communication at the Department for Transport, Local Government, and the Regions.

Sixsmith is the author of two political novels, Spin and I Heard Lenin Laugh. He has also published an account of the Litvinenko murder, The Litvinenko File, and made a documentary film in 2008 exploring the legacy of the KGB in today's Russia and the FSB.

His book The Lost Child of Philomena Lee was turned into a hugely successful film in 2013, starring Judi Dench.

Editorial Reviews

Clear, lively, and not afraid to be controversial: a stimulating anatomisation of Russia's poisonous relationship with the West, Ukraine, and its own dark past.” —Anna Reid, author of Borderland: A Journey through the History of Ukraine and A Dirty Little War

“A very important account of the build-up to Russia's invasions of Ukrainian territory. [...] This is a study that needs to be taken into account when we try to understand the lessons of the war.” —Geoffrey Hosking, Emeritus Professor of Russian History, University College London

“A fascinating and highly readable account of the background to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, informed by Martin Sixsmith's long involvement with the region since his days as a BBC correspondent covering the last days of the Soviet Union.” —Peter Conradi, author of Who Lost Russia? From the Collapse of the USSR to Putin's War on Ukraine

“A tremendous study of how Putin has tragically manipulated national myths for personal gain and revanchist patriotism.” —Starred Review, Kirkus Review

From the Publisher

05/10/2024

Former BBC correspondent Sixsmith (The Russia Conundrum), with the help of historian son, Daniel Sixsmith (coauthor, The War of Nerves), analyze the history of Russia and its current war against Ukraine. The authors argue that the key factor is Putin's desire to wield the iron fist of centralized power, which is the ideological opposite of Western democracy. They assert that it's a divide Putin is keen to maintain. Their book, which takes a scholarly tone at times, discusses Ukraine's longtime wish to join the EU and Russia's longtime rally against Ukraine's attempts to join the NATO military alliance. The authors also point to how Putin witnessed the Soviet Union's 1991 collapse with disdain and how undoing its damage appears to be his main political goal. A key step for him is the denial of Ukraine autonomy to begin the reunification of Soviet Russia. The authors portray Putin as someone dedicated to forcibly rewriting historical aspects that are not to his liking. VERDICT A critical profile of Putin's worldview. Thematically similar to Mikhail Zygar's War and Punishment, this book focuses on Putin's career in the Russian government.—Jessica A. Bushore

Library Journal

★ 2023-12-06
An eloquent report probes the complicated, competing narratives of Ukraine–Russia history.

Martin Sixsmith is a former BBC Moscow correspondent and author of An Unquiet Heart, and his son, Daniel, is a historian and author of The War of Nerves. Despite the optimism in the West for the emergence of liberal democracy in Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the rise of Putin over the last two decades has assured the resurgence of the militarized autocratic model first installed during the time of the Mongols in the 14th century. As a correspondent in Moscow in 1991, Martin joined the triumphal voices at Russia’s disintegration and reported—wrongly, he admits—that “Russia would re-enter the community of nations after seven decades of self-imposed exile and become a responsible member of the international order.” Instead, Putin has only grown more resentful about what the former Soviet Union has lost. Most recently, Putin has reembraced the “Great Russian nationalism” favored by Catherine the Great, and he stresses the concept of Russian vulnerability to Western aggression and the need to protect the allegedly persecuted Russian minorities in places such as the Donbas—hence the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. As the authors note, Hitler used a similar casus belli to invade the Sudetenland in 1938. “Like Stalin before him,” the authors write, “Putin has appointed himself the supreme arbiter of the meaning of history. He declares his strict adherence to historical facts, but they are the ‘facts’ according to the ever-growing number…of Government Organized Non-Governmental Organizations that he himself has created.” As the authors capably demonstrate in this stimulating text, Putin’s massive folly in invading Ukraine—and expecting a warm welcome—has opened a perilous new chapter in the Russian historical narrative.

A tremendous study of how Putin has tragically manipulated national myths for personal gain and revanchist patriotism.

Kirkus Reviews