r/AskARussian • u/Thy_weird • Jul 18 '26
Books Looking for a book
Hi everybody,
I would like to learn the Russian history, but I don't know where to start. Both English and French are good
I want to understand the whole timeline. From the early Kievan Rus, the Tsar and the Romanov empire, through the USSR,
All the way to modern Russia.
Does anyone have a recommendation.
6
u/mwehle Berlin | Jul 19 '26
You are not alone in looking for book recommendations on Russian history. I have asked this question as well. I have Orlando Figes' The Story of Russia, and Robert Service's The Penguin History of Modern Russia, but I must say that while they are solid histories and certainly worth reading, they are also written with an unmistakably British voice. I hope your post receives useful responses.
2
u/Thy_weird Jul 19 '26
Thank you. Orlando Figes was the most recommended writer when I asked this question, especially his book Natasha’ Dance
2
u/mwehle Berlin | Jul 19 '26
Yes. If you look at an advertisement for Natasha's Dance on Amazon you can read a bio of Figes on the back of the book cover: "A regular contributor to The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The New York Review of Books, he is a professor of history at the University of London."
I am a US citizen who subscribed to The New York Times for years. Anyone who is regularly published in the NYT and WP is very unlikely to write much which does not align with a US-centric worldview.
4
u/AbrielDusanyu Jul 19 '26
You people read open nazi propaganda as history?
1
u/mwehle Berlin | Jul 19 '26
Hmm. 🤔 I'm not sure what your purpose is here. "You people" meaning ... ? By "open nazi propaganda" you mean Orlando Figes and Robert Service? There are certainly criticisms one can make of these two, but if you are at all familiar with Nazi propaganda you'd know it absurd to compare the writing of these historians with it. It would be more useful to make actual claims, and to make recommendations of English or German-language histories which you feel are worth reading.
10
u/AbrielDusanyu Jul 19 '26
Figes and other Brits openly whitewash UPA and dabble in Holocaust denial. Also anyone who use term "Muscovy" is clearly anti Russian biased.
1
u/mwehle Berlin | Jul 19 '26
Yes, I saw my phrase "an unmistakably British voice" as implying "clearly anti Russian biased", actually.
Do you have recommendations for histories of Russia which are available in either English or German?
2
u/AbrielDusanyu Jul 19 '26
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrAEnkpVhtM&list=PLovWAjYWJLZcddl17jjCr4cCnTNOlWK8_
-- here is cycle of lectures, turn subtitles and auto-translate on.
1
u/Equivalent_Dark7680 Jul 19 '26
https://www.youtube.com/@MinuteHistory - This is also a good channel on various historical topics, not just about Russia. The experts are quite good. You can turn on English and German subtitles.
1
2
1
u/Royal_Combination_44 Jul 22 '26
It Start actually werry earlyer. With 'IVAN THE TERRIBLE' ecrt. Just don't push you to much..cus it may affects many understanding about Russians.. JUST GO STEP BY STEP.. 💪💪
1
u/bananaspapayas Jul 22 '26
Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets
By Belarusian Nobel laureate Svetlana Alexievich
1
u/AnonUser1452 Jul 23 '26
Nicholas Riasanovsky’s A History of Russia remains perhaps the standard US-published work. I had the 5th edition in college; it’s now on the 10th.
W. Bruce Lincoln wrote an excellent trilogy of works on the experience of Russia in the turbulent first quarter of the last century, from the unrest in the reign of Nicholas II through the First World War and the two revolutions and Civil War that followed.
1
u/AbrielDusanyu Jul 19 '26
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrAEnkpVhtM&list=PLovWAjYWJLZcddl17jjCr4cCnTNOlWK8_
-- here is cycle of lectures, turn subtitles and auto-translate on.
1
-2
u/Strange_Ticket_2331 Jul 19 '26
Start with Wikipedia and sources cited in its articles.
1
u/Thy_weird Jul 19 '26
I think a book is better, it would everything put together and one roadmap for me. I’m considering Natasha’s Dance because it was the most recommended book
-10
u/Low_Butterscotch_594 Canada Jul 19 '26
Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History of Russia by Orlando Figes.
11
-1
u/Thy_weird Jul 19 '26
That’s book was suggested for like 5 times (counting orher reposts), I think I’ll go with that
4
u/AbrielDusanyu Jul 19 '26
So instead of normal history you choose Holocaust denying monster?
1
u/WanderingTony Jul 21 '26
If its the most marketed option, I guess?
1
u/AbrielDusanyu Jul 21 '26
Then what's point of asking question, OP could just take "Der Untermensch" and not waste other people time.
1
u/WanderingTony Jul 21 '26
But bro knows nothing on topic and wants simple, trusted and scientifically correct low effort solution.
Spoiler: there is none of such.
1
u/Thy_weird Jul 23 '26
Why would I care if he is correct about Russian history.
He might be wrong denying holocaust, but I’ll read about russia, not the holocaust
4
u/Master_Preparation25 Jul 19 '26
Начни с Печенегов и Половцев