Between East and West: The Origins of Modern Russia: 862-1953

by R. D. Charques

Overview

A classic work now back in print for the first time since 1956-and still regarded as one of the groundbreaking books on the subject-this narrative history of Russia was the first to encompass the myth-befogged beginnings of the nation-state, the rise and cataclysmic fall of tsarism, and the Spartan years of the U.S.S.R. Charques emphasizes three points of view: that autocracy has played a dominant role throughout all of Russian history;that serfdom is the fabric of Russia's social history; and that it is of paramount importance to recognize Russia's present regime under Putin and Medvedev as the latest phase in along history of oppression.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781605983677
Publisher:	Pegasus Books
Publication date:	08/01/2012
Pages:	1
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.30(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

R. D. Charques was born in London in 1899. He was best known as a literary critic for the New Statesman, the Times Literary Supplement, and the New York Times. Charques is also the author of The Soviets and the Next War and Soviet Education. Mr. Charques died in 1959.

Table of Contents

List of Maps 6

Preface 7

I The Eurasian Background and the Slavs 11

II The Era of Kiev 19

III The Mongol Power 28

IV The Growth of Muscovy 40

V Ivan the Terrible 48

VI The Time of Troubles 62

VII The Early Romanovs 74

VIII The Legacy of Peter the Great 84

IX The Supremacy of the Guards 98

X The Age of Catherine 105

XI The Son of Catherine 119

XII St Petersburg and Revolutionary Europe 124

XIII The Gendarme of Europe 138

XIV Reform and the Aftermath 152

XV Return to the Past 171

XVI Reaping the Whirlwind 177

XVII After 1917: Between West and East 205

Selected Reading List 227

Index 228

Editorial Reviews

The most readable and illuminating one-volume treatment of the subject in either English or the Russian language.

Maurice Hindus - The Saturday Review

This is an extremely important book. In a very short compass and with unfaltering lucidity it offers the general reader the historical background to the Russia which confronts us today. There are plenty of histories of Russia, but there is no short history to compete with this volume. Essential reading for anyone trying to fathom the origins of the Russian state.

Edward Crankshaw - The Observer (London)

This is an extremely important book. In a very short compass and with unfaltering lucidity it offers the general reader the historical background to the Russia which confronts us today. There are plenty of histories of Russia, but there is no short history to compete with this volume. Essential reading for anyone trying to fathom the origins of the Russian state.”— Edward Crankshaw

The Observer (London)

The most readable and illuminating one-volume treatment of the subject in either English or the Russian language.”— Maurice Hindus

The Saturday Review