Russia: Myths and Realities

Review Rodric Braithwaite's Russia is a scholarly yet highly readable gallop through the last 1000 years of Russian history. As befits a distinguished former diplomat, Braithwaite is judiciously opinionated. To understand this tormented nation better - and thereby how Putin came to launch his catastrophic invasion of Ukraine - you can do no better than read this illuminating portrait -- Jonathan Dimbleby Crucial ... readers seeking a more nuanced view [of Russia] will find Braithwaite's brisk and readable account very valuable -- Gideon Rachman ― Financial Times Braithwaite's narrative, from the origins of Kievan Rus to Putin's invasion of Ukraine, is wise and thorough. It's the work of a man with a deep inside knowledge of and sympathy for Russia's people and their culture ― Spectator Braithwaite tells us not to give up hope, at least for the post-Putin era ― Times As Britain's ambassador to Moscow between 1988-92, Braithwaite witnessed first-hand the Russian fall from greatness that Putin is now trying to resurrect. He is an engaging guide, though, to the entire past Russian millennium - and writes with the same flair demonstrated in his previous bestseller Afgantsy, about the disastrous Soviet Afghan campaign ― Sunday Telegraph Readers seeking a more nuanced view will find Braithwaite's brisk and readable account very valuable. The book covers more than 1,000 years of history, culminating in what Putin termed the "geopolitical catastrophe" of the collapse of the Soviet Union -- Gideon Rachman ― FT A valuable book that would set many pundits straight ... Putin might do well to read [it] -- Seamus Martin ― Irish Times Praise for Moscow 1941: 'A remarkable epic, vividly portrayed ― Sunday Telegraph A heartbreaking and thrilling story of peerless heroism and misery on a barely imaginable scale -- Simon Sebag Montefiore Praise for Afgantsy: 'This is the book every politician, every general, every diplomat contemplating getting into, or out of, Afghanistan should be made to read. [A] masterpiece -- Sherard Cowper-Coles ― Guardian Product Description 'Wise and thorough' The Spectator 'Brisk and readable ... very valuable' Financial Times 'He is an engaging guide ... and writes with the same flair demonstrated in his previous bestseller Afgantsy' The Sunday Telegraph 'A scholarly yet highly readable gallop through the last 1000 years of Russian history ... To understand this tormented nation, you can do no better than read this illuminating portrait' Jonathan Dimbleby Russia is the largest country in the world, with the largest arsenal of nuclear weapons. Over a thousand years this multifaceted nation of shifting borders has been known as Rus, Muscovy, the Russian Empire, and the Soviet Union. Thirty years ago it was reinvented as the Russian Federation. Russia is not an enigma, but its past is violent, tragic, sometimes glorious, and certainly complicated. Like the rest of us, the Russians constantly rewrite their history. They too omit episodes of national disgrace in favour of patriotic anecdotes, sometimes more rooted in myth than reality. Expert and former ambassador Rodric Braithwaite unpicks fact from fiction to discover what lies at the root of the Russian story. Book Description A short and pithy introduction to the history of Russia as we know it today About the Author Sir Rodric Braithwaite is a former British diplomat and author whose long Foreign Office career took him to Indonesia, Poland, Italy, America and Russia. He was British Ambassador in Moscow during the fall of the Soviet Union, which he described in Across the Moscow River(2002, Yale). Rodric Braithwaite was subsequently foreign policy adviser to the Prime Minister, John Major, and Chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee. He is author of Afgantsy: The Russians in Afghanistan (Profile Books), Moscow 1941 (Profile Books), a bestseller translated into nineteen languages and Armageddon & Paranoia: The Nuclear Confrontation (2017).