Russia: People and Empire, 1552-1917, Enlarged Edition - Tapa blanda

The loss of empire has left many Russians bewildered because their view of themselves as a nation had been intimately connected with their self-image as a great imperial power. It has revealed how weakly developed is the Russians' sense of national identity. Mr. Hosking attributes that weakness to imperialism overwhelming nationhood in Russia's history...The problem Mr. Hosking raises is not new, but he is the first to explore it in depth.--Richard Pipes "New York Times Book Review "

[An] impressive book...There are more resonances for today's Russia in these pages than in all the archive-spilling that has characterized so much post-Soviet publishing...It is unlikely that a clearer, more stimulating account of the Russians' extraordinary period of imperial history will be written.--Philip Marsden "The Spectator "

[A] brilliant dual study of Russia's people and empire under the Tsars...an elegantly written, humane and rigorous work of empirical history, with considerable relevance to the problems of what, in light of the author's arguments, we should optimistically call another emergent nation.--Michael Burleigh "Independent on Sunday "

I counsel everyone to read the latest work of Prof. Geoffrey Hosking, the man who has done the most to explain Russia to the general reader...He has produced a fascinating analysis.--Boris Johnson "Daily Telegraph "

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 everyone should read who wants to understand the origins of Russia's predicament today.--Orlando Figes "Times "

Hosking's book is a >tour de force of historical argument vividly written, courageously argumentative, unafraid to take a stand on the 'accursed question' of Russian identity and destiny.--Michael Ignatieff "Observer (Manchester, England) "

Geoffrey Hosking has written a wonderfully suggestive and innovative Russian history that deserves to be widely read. He masterfully interweaves the latest scholarship in social history with an imaginative rereading of intellectual, institutional, and political history.--Mark von Hagen, author of Soldiers of the Proletariat Dictatorship

A sweeping overview of Russian history written by a master of the subject. It is rich in details, sources, and ideas about Russian political, historical, and cultural development. It is an impressive work that will be useful to students of Russian history, culture, religion, as well as politics.--Nicolai N. Petro, author of The Rebirth of Russian Democracy

The publication of this book... invites us to do nothing less than rethink Russian history. In a sweeping yet meticulously argued reinterpretation of the past five centuries, Hosking shows the ways in which the Russian state's policy of empire-building has impeded the creation of a Russian nation, leaving today's Russians uncertain about what being Russian actually means. It thus goes a significant step beyond the commonplace according to which Russia's current troubles stem from the lack of a democratic tradition: democracy requires a sense of self, Hosking maintains, and Russia cannot fully embrace democracy without developing a viable ethnic and civil identity.--Washington Post Book World

Hosking has a fascinating thesis, arguing persuasively that there are two Russias-->Rus' for the people and >Rossia for the empire--and that the empire has always swallowed up the people, with terrible consequences today as Russia tries to establish itself as a nation. But this book can also be read simply as a lucid and absorbing history of a great country, scrupulously presented by a scholar whose breadth of knowledge astonishes.--Best Books of 1997, Library Journal

The Soviet Union crumbles and Russia rises from the rubble, once again the great nation. A perfect scenario, but for one point: Russia was never a nation. This, says eminent historian Geoffrey Hosking, is at the heart of the Russians' dilemma today, as they grapple with the rudiments of nationhood. His book--about the Russia that never was--provides a 300-year history of empire building at the expense of national identity. 3 maps.