Russia 1552–1917

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

“[A] brilliant dual study of Russia’s people and empire under the Tsars … an elegantly written, humane and rigorous work of empirical history.”
MICHAEL BURLEIGH, 'Independent on Sunday'

“Geoffrey Hosking’s 'History of the Soviet Union' remains the standard text on the subject. With this more ambitious book, he can put in a claim to the previous 350 years as well. 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] excellent new book is a fine starting point for anyone who wishes to grasp the uneasy relationship between empire, state and nation in Russian history. This is a serious and thoughtful book on a difficult subject, but it is so well written and so clear in its explanations of Russia’s past that it can safely be recommended to readers who know nothing about Tsarist history.”
DOMINIC LIEVEN, 'Sunday Telegraph'

“[Hosking’s] knowledge of religion is his greatest strength, and he puts it at the centre of his argument. I have never read a better explanation of why Orthodoxy failed to integrate the Russian nation … 'Russia: People and Empire' is the most interesting and authoritative account of Russian imperial history in English. It is a masterful synthesis, intelligent and lucid, passionately argumentative, but always fair, which should be read by everyone who wants to understand the origins of Russia’s predicament today.”
ORLANDO FIGES, 'The Times'

“Hosking’s book is a 'tour de force' of historical argument, vividly written, courageously argumentative, unafraid to take on “accursed questions” of Russian identity and destiny.”
MICHAEL IGNATIEFF, 'Observer'

‘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.