This lucid account of Russian and Soviet history presents major trends and events from ancient Kievan Rus' to Vladimir Putin's presidency of the twenty-first century. Now thoroughly revised and updated,
Russia and the Soviet Union does not shy away from controversial topics, including the impact of the Mongol conquest, the paradoxes of Peter the Great, the inevitability” of the 1917 Revolution, the Stalinist terror, and the Gorbachev reform effort. The sixth edition includes a new chapter on Vladimir Putin, additional treatment of social and foreign policy issues, and an updated chapter on post-Soviet Russia and the Yeltsin era. Distinguished by its brevity and amply supplemented with useful maps, illustrations, photos, and suggested readings, this essential text provides balanced coverage of all periods of Russian history and incorporates economic, social, and cultural developments as well as politics and foreign policy.
Contents
1. Ancient Russia and the Kievan State
2. Russia Divided and Conquered, 1054 1462
3. Moscow and the Gathering of the Russian Lands,” 1328 1533
4. Ivan the Terrible and the Time of Troubles, 1533 1618
5. The Molding of Russian Society, 1613 1689
6. Peter the Great and Westernization, 1689 1725
7. Change and Continuity, 1725 1801
8. Power, Backwardness, and Creativity, 1801 1855
9. Reform, Reaction, and Modernization, 1855 1904
10. Revolution, Reform, and War, 1904 1917
11. Revolution, Civil War, and the Founding of Soviet Society, 1917 1928
12. The Second Revolution, the Stalinist System, and World War II, 1928 1946
13. The Soviet Union as a Superpower: Change, Stagnation, and Cold War,” 1946 1984
14. The Gorbachev Revolution” and the Collapse of the Soviet Union, 1983 1991
15. The New” Russia in the Post-Soviet Era 1991 2000
16. Putin's Paradoxes
