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History of Russia, The Soviet Union, and Beyond, 4th
In this revision of their best-selling text, MacKenzie and Curran present a clear and objective account of the history of Russians and other eastern Slavs from its beginnings in ancient Rus to the demise of the Soviet Union and, most recently, the Putin presidency. Acclaimed in the field for its clarity, comprehensiveness, and accuracy, the text balances social/cultural history with political history. The authors' approach weaves the external geographic determinism of the Eurasian school and the organic, inner-oriented approach of Russian historians.
992 pages, Hardcover
First published December 9, 1992
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 18, 2020
This was my wife’s Russian History textbook in college, and although I had glanced at it then with interest it has taken me ten years to pick it up, and more than a month to read it. After finishing it I doubt I could get a C on a test, but that is my problem.
MacKenzie and Curran’s is pretty much what you could expect from a textbook: Most of the topics are presented in a rather schematic way, giving the student a substantial reference list in case they want to dig deeper in the topic. While it works, sometimes I feel I should have been a good student and reread each chapter. For example, since I have some knowledge of the Napoleonic era, that chapter was much easier to follow that the one dealing with the Crimean War, about which I knew –and I still know—close to nothing.
At the end of some chapters there are questions, where the authors condense almost to ridicule certain historiographic positions concerning a relevant event, and try to somehow synthesis them in the “Everybody is partially right, partially wrong, but modern western scholars tend to be on the better side.” That is not always the case, and some are rather surprising. The one on the Purges has finally put a name to my preconceived ideas—I am a pluralist apparently—which is a remarkable step forward in my personal life. The one on who started the Great Patriotic War is a mixture between a waste of space—we f&8k5#g know—and an excellent rebuttal of half-baked conspiracies.
As you can probably infer from the previous paragraph, like some general Histories I have read in the past year—e.g. Poland, Hungary—this book is skewed in favor or more recent events—read History of the Soviet Union. As the Hungary one, it ends in a cliffhanger when a young politician called Viktor Orban/Vladimir Putin gets to power. If the book was less than super current when my wife used it, now it desperately needs an update. Not just because that young man continues in power and needs his very own full chapter, but also because we need a more complete vision of post-soviet Russia.
If you find it second hand, it is probably a good purchase, but there might be more recent books that are just as good. And maybe with fewer exclamation marks!
MacKenzie and Curran’s is pretty much what you could expect from a textbook: Most of the topics are presented in a rather schematic way, giving the student a substantial reference list in case they want to dig deeper in the topic. While it works, sometimes I feel I should have been a good student and reread each chapter. For example, since I have some knowledge of the Napoleonic era, that chapter was much easier to follow that the one dealing with the Crimean War, about which I knew –and I still know—close to nothing.
At the end of some chapters there are questions, where the authors condense almost to ridicule certain historiographic positions concerning a relevant event, and try to somehow synthesis them in the “Everybody is partially right, partially wrong, but modern western scholars tend to be on the better side.” That is not always the case, and some are rather surprising. The one on the Purges has finally put a name to my preconceived ideas—I am a pluralist apparently—which is a remarkable step forward in my personal life. The one on who started the Great Patriotic War is a mixture between a waste of space—we f&8k5#g know—and an excellent rebuttal of half-baked conspiracies.
As you can probably infer from the previous paragraph, like some general Histories I have read in the past year—e.g. Poland, Hungary—this book is skewed in favor or more recent events—read History of the Soviet Union. As the Hungary one, it ends in a cliffhanger when a young politician called Viktor Orban/Vladimir Putin gets to power. If the book was less than super current when my wife used it, now it desperately needs an update. Not just because that young man continues in power and needs his very own full chapter, but also because we need a more complete vision of post-soviet Russia.
If you find it second hand, it is probably a good purchase, but there might be more recent books that are just as good. And maybe with fewer exclamation marks!
August 24, 2026
Good read overall, especially for a textbook.
The last chapter and the WW2 chapters are the weakest but this was an informative read covering the area that would eventually be known as Russia (and the Soviet Union). Covering geographic, cultural, migration, tribal/people, religious, economic, and other factors we get a concise set of historical eras in the history of the region.
Ancient, medieval, and Tsarist sections were the most interesting to me as I was poorly versed in them. The authors buttress one's understanding (hopefully) of this by asking sets of questions at the end of some chapters designed to address major issues being covered. Each chapter also ends with suggested readings (books and articles)
One can easily skip the last chapter as it deals with Putin and ends in 2000 getting virtually nothing correct with it's assumptions on his goals, actual viewpoints, and character. Estimates of Russia's near and long term future are also horribly wrong....predictions of 40m population lost by 2025 due to the collapse of government healthcare and a poor economy for example!
Again, well worth the time to read especially the pre 19th century periods. The Communist era and the horrors it sponsored are also good diving deep into the misery that was the lot of most of the Empire for over 80 years...
The last chapter and the WW2 chapters are the weakest but this was an informative read covering the area that would eventually be known as Russia (and the Soviet Union). Covering geographic, cultural, migration, tribal/people, religious, economic, and other factors we get a concise set of historical eras in the history of the region.
Ancient, medieval, and Tsarist sections were the most interesting to me as I was poorly versed in them. The authors buttress one's understanding (hopefully) of this by asking sets of questions at the end of some chapters designed to address major issues being covered. Each chapter also ends with suggested readings (books and articles)
One can easily skip the last chapter as it deals with Putin and ends in 2000 getting virtually nothing correct with it's assumptions on his goals, actual viewpoints, and character. Estimates of Russia's near and long term future are also horribly wrong....predictions of 40m population lost by 2025 due to the collapse of government healthcare and a poor economy for example!
Again, well worth the time to read especially the pre 19th century periods. The Communist era and the horrors it sponsored are also good diving deep into the misery that was the lot of most of the Empire for over 80 years...
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews