Russia: People and Empire: 1552–1917 - Tapa dura

“[A] brilliant dual study of Russia’s people and empire under the Tsars ... an elegantly written, humane and rigorous work of empirical history.”
MICHAEL BURLEIGH, 'Independent on Sunday'

“Geoffrey Hosking’s 'History of the Soviet Union' remains the standard text on the subject. With this more ambitious book, he can put in a claim to the previous 350 years as well. It is unlikely that a clearer, more stimulating account of the Russians’ extraordinary period of imperial history will be written.”
PHILIP MARSDEN, 'Spectator'

“[Geoffrey Hosking’s] excellent new book is a fine starting point for anyone who wishes to grasp the uneasy relationship between empire, state and nation in Russian history. This is a serious and thoughtful book on a difficult subject, but it is so well written and so clear in its explanations of Russia’s past that it can safely be recommended to readers who know nothing about Tsarist history.”
DOMINIC LIEVEN, 'Sunday Telegraph'

“[Hosking’s] knowledge of religion is his greatest strength, and he puts it at the centre of his argument. I have never read a better explanation of why Orthodoxy failed to integrate the Russian nation ... 'Russia: People and Empire' is the most interesting and authoritative account of Russian imperial history in English. It is a masterful synthesis, intelligent and lucid, passionately argumentative, but always fair, which should be read by everyone who wants to understand the origins of Russia’s predicament today.”
ORLANDO FIGES, 'The Times'

“Hosking’s book is a 'tour de force' of historical argument, vividly written, courageously argumentative, unafraid to take on “accursed questions” of Russian identity and destiny.”
MICHAEL IGNATIEFF, 'Observer'