Russia: Myths and Realities: The History of a Country with an Unpredictable Past

In this concise survey of the turning points that shaped Russia’s national identity, historian Braithwaite (Moscow 1941) tracks the country’s torturous evolution from a “collection of princely domains bound by loyalty to the Grand Prince of Kiev” to an imperial powerhouse in the 18th and 19th centuries, then a collapsed and incoherent nation returned, in the view of many Russians, “to something like its rightful place in the world” by Vladimir Putin. Braithwaite identifies and analyzes such watershed moments as Vladimir the Great’s conversion to Orthodox Christianity in 988 CE, a decision that aligned Kievan Rus with the Byzantine empire and “still dramatizes the differences between Russia and the rest of Christian Europe.” Braithwaite also busts several myths, including the notion that the Mongol invasions of the 13th century explain “the brutal nature of Russia’s domestic policies” and its “fragile grasp of the rule of law” (those characteristics were evident before the Mongols arrived, he contends, and existed elsewhere in Europe), and sheds light on the long and complex relationship between Russia and Ukraine. Enlivened by Braithwaite’s pointed pronouncements (“It is difficult to like Peter [the Great] as a man, but hard not to be amazed by him as a phenomenon”), this is a brisk and immersive introduction to Russian history. (Oct.)