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Russia: A Short History
Written by Abraham Ascher
Narrated by John Pruden
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Start ListeningDescription
Distinguished Professor Emeritus Abraham Ascher offers a skillful blend of engaging narrative and fresh analysis in this concise introduction to Russian history.
Newly updated on the 100th anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution, it covers the growing political tensions between Russia and its neighbors, and the mounting divergence between Russian and U.S. foreign policies. This stimulating and beautifully written introduction will prove enlightening for students, scholars, and travelers alike.
Book Actions
Start ListeningBook Information
Russia: A Short History
Written by Abraham Ascher
Narrated by John Pruden
Description
Distinguished Professor Emeritus Abraham Ascher offers a skillful blend of engaging narrative and fresh analysis in this concise introduction to Russian history.
Newly updated on the 100th anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution, it covers the growing political tensions between Russia and its neighbors, and the mounting divergence between Russian and U.S. foreign policies. This stimulating and beautifully written introduction will prove enlightening for students, scholars, and travelers alike.
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Reviews
Clean, factual and detailed with good high-level analysis. Does skip/miss the behavior of Soviets during some major events like Korean War, relations with China and Vietnam war. But it’s a vast topic and the book is a very good introduction to outlines of Russian history. Particularly insightful is the transition from Yelstin to Putin and Putin’s early views. And the list of events immediately around 2001 may indicate how the West lost opportunities to build a proper relationship with him in the early days. It was unrealistic to expect that Russia would go to a full capitalistic market-driven system. The west, especially US, should’ve treated them with more respect as a great power instead of treating them as a second-rate one to lecture. That does not excuse the excesses of the Russian government, but it’s a question of real-politik and the realistic outcome you’re looking to drive.
Rating: 4Kind of an inch deep and mile wide overview of Russian history but gives the reader an opportunity to find areas of interest for further study. Well written and narrated.
Rating: 5Concise but thorough retelling and analysis of Russian history. This book really achieves its goal of being an approachable but detailed look at the past of the country.
Rating: 5dhhh.
Rating: 5Hi good summary of a country with a long history
Rating: 5This is an efficient summary of Russian history and ideal for readers requiring a basic outline. Now in its third edition it brings events up to 2017 in a final chapter documenting Russia’s moves into Europe, activities in the Crimea, Ukraine and Syria. 4 maps, no photos or other illustrations, minimal notes and a bibliography that has not been updated listing only four books published post 2000 - this is a serious weakness for students wanting to explore the many developments in the study of Russian history this century.The final chapter relies primarily on newspaper and journal articles. Ascher speculates as to Putin’s Byzantine political moves as corruption enhances the divides between the rich and the poor, and the state’s policy of murdering opponents anywhere in the world.Ascher quotes Gorbachev’s view that ‘the world is preparing for war’ seems out of place in a book that largely eschews political commentary and speculation - and it’s a prophecy that would be apt at several points in the text, apart from the fact that a world war, since 1945, has been, albeit only just, narrowly avoided. His concern as to weather the politicians and diplomats have the skills to avert a melt down in the future is key to our survival.
Rating: 3Abraham Ascher, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of History at the Graduate School of the City University of New York, has covered the whole sweep of Russian history in only 252 pages, from the rise of Kiev in the 9th century to the early 21st century. In painting with such a broad brush, he must omit a lot of detail, but for the general reader, this book is an excellent introduction to Russia’s past. It is difficult to summarize a book that is itself a summary, so I will just point out a few of Ascher’s observations that I found enlightening. Because of its enormous size (nearly three times that of the United States), Russia sits astride both Europe and Asia. One organizing principle of Ascher’s book is how this geography causes Russia’s personality (if a state can be said to have one) to be split between East and West. The Mongol invasions of the 13th century cut Russia off from significant influence from the West for hundreds of years. As such, “Russia remained largely unaffected by the Protestant Reformation in the sixteenth century, the scientific revolution of the seventeenth, and the Enlightenment of the eighteenth, all movements that promoted individualism and rationalism.” Ivan IV (the “Terrible”), who ruled in the mid-16th century, was essentially an Oriental Potentate. Only with the accession of Peter the Great in the late 17th century did Russia begin to look to the West for inspiration.Since the book was first published in 2002, the author has little to say about the regime of Vladimir Putin. The book concludes with a discussion of Boris Yeltsin’s reign and with the proposition that the “central concern of Russian political leaders and intellectuals…is [whether Russia is a] part of the West or does it belong culturally to the East?” It may have seemed that the fall of communism in 1991 represented a movement toward the West, but Ascher observes, “Putin has steadily moved Russia back to the Byzantine tradition,” which he characterizes as one marked by “irrationality, mystery, and contempt for society.” Ascher also refers to Putin’s “vulgarity and his disdain for the democratic process.” Regardless of whether those observations have any grounding in truth, it is clear Ascher is contemptuous of Putin, and unlikely to give him credit for any advances the country has made under his leadership.Ascher closes with the observation:“It will be some time—perhaps decades—before we know whether the Western traditions of freedom of the individual and private property, which animated the revolution 1991, have struck deep roots in Russia, providing the country with the preconditions for a stable democracy and flourishing economy.”In that paragraph, Ascher also reveals his biases toward a Western concept of what constitutes a good society. While Americans may presume that all countries around the world would love to have a capitalist democracy if only they could, the fact is that populations abroad, particularly in countries that prize community over individualism, have repeatedly rejected this assumption.Vladimir Putin enjoys an enormous popularity in Russia. The people, especially in the big cities, have embraced capitalism with enthusiasm, but they may not represent the entire country. The next several years will be very interesting.Evaluation: This overview of Russian history is useful, but read it with caution: it has a strong Western bias, which colors the author's analysis.(JAB)
Rating: 4The book it's self if good, but several chapters are cut short. this is not a good audio book.
Rating: 1