Russia: People and Empire: 1552–1917

by Geoffrey Hosking (Author)

• Used

  Hardcover
  1997

  $6.43

• New

  Paperback
  1998

  $18.39

  `It is unlikely that a clearer, more stimulating account of the Russians' extraordinary period of imperial history will be written.' Philip Marsden, Spectator

  Geoffrey Hosking's landmark book provides us with a new prism through which to view Russian history by posing the apparently simple question: what is Russia's national identity?

  Hosking answers this with brilliant originality: his thesis is that the needs of Russia's empire prevented the creation of a Russian nation. The Tsars, and before them the Grand Dukes of Moscow, were empire builders rather than nation builders and, as consequence, profoundly alienated ordinary Russians.