Orlando Figes

From the award-winning author of The Whisperers, Orlando Figes Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History of Russia is a dazzling history of Russia's mighty culture. Orlando Figes' enthralling, richly evocative history has been heralded as a literary masterpiece on Russia, the lives of those who have shaped its culture, and the enduring spirit of a people. 'Wonderfully rich ... magnificent and compelling ... a delight to read' Antony Beevor 'A tour de force by the great storyteller of modern Russian historians ... Figes mobilizes a cast of serf harems, dynasties, politburos, libertines, filmmakers, novelists, composers, poets, tsars and tyrants ... superb, flamboyant and masterful' Simon Sebag-Montefiore, Financial Times 'Awe-inspiring ... Natasha's Dance has all the qualities of an epic tragedy' Mail on Sunday 'It is so much fun to read that I hesitate to write too much, for fear of spoiling the pleasures and surprises of the book' Sunday Telegraph 'Magnificent ... Figes is at his exciting best' Guardian 'Breathtaking ... The title of this masterly history comes from War and Peace, when the aristocratic heroine, Natasha Rostova, finds herself intuitively picking up the rhythm of a peasant dance ... One of those books that, at times, makes you wonder how you have so far managed to do without it' Independent on Sunday 'Thrilling, dizzying ... I would defy any reader not to be captivated' Literary Review Orlando Figes is Professor of History at Birkbeck College, University of London. He is the author of Peasant Russia, Civil War, A People's Tragedy, Natasha's Dance, The Whisperers and Just Send Me Word. His books have been translated into over twenty languages.

Ingenstans har orden "den som behärskar det förflutna behärskar framtiden" varit mer sanna än i Ryssland. Genom historien har makthavare gång på gång skrivit om landets förflutna för att passa sina intressen – något som är relevant i förståelsen för hur landet tänker och agerar idag. Orlando Figes skildrar tusen år av rysk historia – från Kievriket till Putins invasion av Ukraina – ur ett nytt och avslöjande perspektiv där han visar hur personer och händelser format nationens själ och självbild. Med fängslande berättarstil och skarp analys utforskar Figes de autokratiska tendenserna, föreställningarna om tsaren som folkets fader, den "ryska själen" och den upplevda skymfen från västvärlden

"Den historiebog, du har brug for, hvis du vil forstå nutidens Rusland"– Anne Applebaum En lærd og velskrevet fortælling om de mennesker og begivenheder, der har formet Ruslands voldsomme historie. Læs om kroningen af Ivan den Grusomme i en kandelaberoplyst katedral, om Katarina den Store til hest på vej til at arrestere sin husbond, om Romanovdynastiets sidste bitre dage – og alle de andre autokrater, undersåtter, revolutionære og helt almindelige russere, der har befolket det utrolige land gennem tiderne.

Ingen nations historia har skrivits om så många gånger som den ryska, allt för att passa de styrandes intressen. Ingenstans har orden "den som kontrollerar det förflutna kontrollerar framtiden" varit mer sanna än i Ryssland. Hur ryssarna kommit att ständigt omarbeta berättelserna om sitt förflutna är inte bara en viktig aspekt av historien - det är också relevant i förståelsen för hur landet tänker och agerar idag.I Historien om Ryssland närmar sig Orlando Figes tusen år av historia utifrån ett helt nytt perspektiv, genom att titta på hur personer och händelser ur landets förflutna format Rysslands utveckling. Med fängslande berättarstil och intellektuell skärpa utforskar författaren de krafter som legat bakom ryskt agerande genom tiderna, om det så handlar om Ivan den förskräckliges kröning, ryska revolutionens ohyggligheter eller den Putinledda invasionen av Ukraina. I detta mästerverk finns nycklarna till att förstå vilka drivkrafter som styrt Rysslands agerande från medeltiden till idag, inklusive föreställningen om att Ukraina är ett land som inte borde existera.

"This is the essential backstory, the history book that you need if you want to understand modern Russia and its wars with Ukraine, with its neighbors, with America, and with the West."--Anne Applebaum, author of Twilight of Democracy and Red Famine Named a Most Anticipated Book of the Year by Publishers Weekly and Kirkus Reviews From "the great storyteller of Russian history" (Financial Times), a brilliant account of the national mythologies and imperial ideologies that have shaped Russia's past and politics--essential reading for understanding the country today The Story of Russia is a fresh approach to the thousand years of Russia's history, concerned as much with the ideas that have shaped how Russians think about their past as it is with the events and personalities comprising it. No other country has reimagined its own story so often, in a perpetual effort to stay in step with the shifts of ruling ideologies. From the founding of Kievan Rus in the first millennium to Putin's war against Ukraine, Orlando Figes explores the ideas that have guided Russia's actions throughout its long and troubled existence. Whether he's describing the crowning of Ivan the Terrible in a candlelit cathedral or the dramatic upheaval of the peasant revolution, he reveals the impulses, often unappreciated or misunderstood by foreigners, that have driven Russian history: the medieval myth of Mother Russia's holy mission to the world; the imperial tendency toward autocratic rule; the popular belief in a paternal tsar dispensing truth and justice; the cult of sacrifice rooted in the idea of the "Russian soul"; and always, the nationalist myth of Russia's unjust treatment by the West. How the Russians came to tell their story and to revise it so often as they went along is not only a vital aspect of their history; it is also our best means of understanding how the country thinks and acts today. Based on a lifetime of scholarship and enthrallingly written, The Story of Russia is quintessential Figes: sweeping, revelatory, and masterful.

A 2022 BOOK OF THE YEAR FOR: Sunday Times * Irish Times * Spectator * Financial Times * Telegraph * Aspects of History‘The history book you need if you want to understand modern Russia' ANNE APPLEBAUM‘A magnificent, magisterial thousand year history of Russia . . . by one of the masters of Russian scholarship' SIMON SEBAG MONTEFIORE‘A great historian at the peak of his powers' WILLIAM DALRYMPLE'[An] excellent short study’ MAX HASTINGS, SUNDAY TIMES‘If you really want to understand Putin’s Russia today, anchored in its past of myths, then you simply have to read Figes’s superb account’ ANTONY BEEVOR'A lucid chronological journey that ably illustrates how narratives from the nation’s past have been used to shape its autocratic present’ OBSERVER'A valuable, instructive overview' INDEPENDENT -------------------------From the great storyteller of Russia, a spellbinding account of the stories that have shaped the country’s past – and how they can inform its present.No other country has been so divided over its own past as Russia. None has changed its story so often. How the Russians came to tell their story, and to reinvent it as they went along, is a vital aspect of their history, their culture and beliefs. To understand what Russia’s future holds – to grasp what Putin’s regime means for Russia and the world – we need to unravel the ideas and meanings of that history.In The Story of Russia, Orlando Figes brings into sharp relief the vibrant characters that comprise Russia’s rich history, and whose stories remain so important in making sense of the world’s largest nation today – from the crowning of sixteen-year-old Ivan the Terrible in a candlelit cathedral, to Catherine the Great, riding out in a green uniform to arrest her husband at his palace, to the bitter last days of the Romanovs.Beautifully written and based on a lifetime of scholarship, The Story of Russia is a major and definitive work from the great storyteller of Russian history: sweeping, suspenseful, masterful.-------------------------PRAISE FOR ORLANDO FIGES‘An outstanding historian and writer, he brings distant history so close that you could feel its heartbeat’KARL OVE KNAUSGAARD'Figes knows more about Russia than any other historian'MAX HASTINGS, SUNDAY TIMES

MEJOR LIBRO DEL A O 2022 EN Sunday Times * Irish Times * Spectator * Financial Times * Telegraph * Aspects of History Uno de los libros m s esperados seg n Publishers Weekly and Kirkus Reviews «Este es el libro de historia que necesitan para entender la Rusia moderna y sus guerras con Ucrania, con sus dem s vecinos, con Estados Unidos y con Occidente . -ANNE APPLEBAUM «Si de verdad quieren entender la Rusia de Putin, anclada en su pasado de mitos, lean este excelente libro . -ANTONY BEEVOR Orlando Figes, el gran especialista en Rusia, ofrece una nueva historia que da sentido al presente. La historia de Rusia se ha visto marcada como pocas por el empleo de mitos con fines pol ticos. Ning n otro pa s ha reinventado su propio relato con tanta frecuencia, en un esfuerzo perpetuo por adaptarse a los cambios de las ideolog as dominantes, y esa tendencia es precisamente un aspecto vital de su cultura. Para comprender lo que depara el futuro del pa s -y lo que significa el r gimen de Putin para Rusia y para el resto del mundo-, debemos desentra ar las ideas y los significados de esa historia. Desde sus inicios agrarios en el primer milenio hasta la era de Putin, pasando por los periodos de monarqu a, totalitarismo y Perestroika, el brillante historiador Orlando Figes examina las claves que han marcado el destino del pa s, entre ellas la necesidad de un r gimen autocr tico para gobernar tan vasto territorio; la veneraci n del «Santo Zar y el culto al l der; la creencia en un esp ritu colectivista esencialmente ruso; y su oscilaci n entre el car cter europeo y euroasi tico. Todos estos ingredientes permiten entender la Rusia moderna. En un momento en el que el pa s se aleja de Europa, esta historia de su pasado, a cargo de toda una autoridad en la materia y maravillosamente narrada, bien podr a dilucidar su futuro. ENGLISH DESCRIPTION "This is the essential backstory, the history book that you need if you want to understand modern Russia and its wars with Ukraine, with its neighbors, with America, and with the West." ―Anne Applebaum, author of Twilight of Democracy and Red Famine A 2022 BOOK OF THE YEAR FOR: Sunday Times * Irish Times * Spectator * Financial Times * Telegraph * Aspects of History Named a Most Anticipated Book of the Year by Publishers Weekly and Kirkus Reviews From "the great storyteller of Russian history" (Financial Times), a brilliant account of the national mythologies and imperial ideologies that have shaped Russia's past and politics―essential reading for understanding the country today The Story of Russia is a fresh approach to the thousand years of Russia's history, concerned as much with the ideas that have shaped how Russians think about their past as it is with the events and personalities comprising it. No other country has reimagined its own story so often, in a perpetual effort to stay in step with the shifts of ruling ideologies. From the founding of Kievan Rus in the first millennium to Putin's war against Ukraine, Orlando Figes explores the ideas that have guided Russia's actions throughout its long and troubled existence. Whether he's describing the crowning of Ivan the Terrible in a candlelit cathedral or the dramatic upheaval of the peasant revolution, he reveals the impulses, often unappreciated or misunderstood by foreigners, that have driven Russian history: the medieval myth of Mother Russia's holy mission to the world; the imperial tendency toward autocratic rule; the popular belief in a paternal tsar dispensing truth and justice; the cult of sacrifice rooted in the idea of the "Russian soul"; and always, the nationalist myth of Russia's unjust treatment by the West. How the Russians came to tell their story and to revise it so often as they went along is not only a vital aspect of their history; it is also our best means of understanding how the country thinks and acts today. Based on a lifetime of scholarship and enthrallingly written, The Story of Russia is quintessential Figes: sweeping, revelatory, and masterful.

Mitte üheski riigis pole ajalugu ümber kirjutatud nii palju ja nii sageli kui Venemaal. See, kuidas venelased ise oma lugu jutustavad ning seda ikka ja jälle muudavad, on nende ajaloo, kultuuri ja uskumuste mõistmise ning tõlgendamise seisukohalt ülimalt oluline. Et hoomata, missugune võib olla Venemaa tulevik, on vaja aru saada, mida tähendab Putini rezhiim nii Venemaale kui tervele maailmale, ning tuleks uurida ideid ja müüte, mille abil on seda ajalugu kujundatud. Nappide vahenditega, aga ladusas sõnastuses maalib Orlando Figes pildi maailma suurima riigi tuhandeaastasest ajaloost alates Rjurikust ja vürst Vladimirist; edasi oleme tunnistajaks Ivan Julma kroonimisele, Peeter I ja Katariina II tegemistele kuni Romanovite dünastia hävinguni, revolutsioonile, kodusõjale ja Nõukogude Liidu kokkuvarisemisele, ning siis juba Venemaa käekäigule kuni sissetungini Ukrainasse veebruaris 2022. Eestigi lugejale tuntud ajalooalaste suurraamatute autor Antony Beevor on Figese uue teose kohta öelnud, et kui tahta tõepoolest mõista tänapäevast Putini Venemaad, mille minevik on kinni lugematutes müütides, siis tuleb lihtsalt lugeda seda Figese suurepärast ülevaadet. 1959. aastal Londonis sündinud Orlando Figes sai ajaloohariduse Cambridge'i ülikoolis ja õpetab praegu sama ainet Londoni ülikooli Birkebecki kolledzhis ning Cambridge'i ülikooli Trinity kolledzhis. Ta on üheksa Venemaa ja Euroopa ajalugu käsitleva raamatu autor. Eesti keeles on varem ilmunud "Natasha tants", "Revolutsiooniline Venemaa 1891-1991", "Saada mulle vaid sõna", "Sosistajad" ja "Eurooplased".

Venäjän vallankumous oli sata vuotta kestänyt kehityskulku, eikä vain 1917 lähivuosiin kytkeytyvä tapahtumasarja. Ajanjakso sai alkunsa vuoden 1891 nälänhädästä ja päättyi Neuvostoliiton hajoamiseen vuonna 1991. Ajan kuluessa vallankumous sai uusia sävyjä, mutta ideologiset perusajatukset pysyivät kuitenkin samana. Orlando Figesin teos seuraa kolmea sukupolvea: Leniniä ja bolsevikkeja, jotka valoivat perustukset sosialistiselle tuhoa ja uudista -toimintamallille; stalinistista sukupolvea, joka loi kestävän sosialistisen hallinnon ja lujitti koneistoaan voittamalla toisen maailmansodan, sekä vuoden 1956 sukupolvea, joka halusi ”saada vallankumouksen toimimaan” tilanteessa, jossa kansa oli tyytymätön ja valtio taloudellisessa ahdingossa. Aivan Neuvostoliiton hajoamiseen saakka sen johtajat luulivat toteuttavansa Leninin käynnistämää vallankumousta. Vallankumouksen Venäjä 1891-1991 murtaa historiantutkimuksen tutut kaavat ja laajentaa käsitystämme vallankumouksen luonteesta.

From the "master of historical narrative" (Financial Times), a dazzling, richly detailed, panoramic work--the first to document the genesis of a continent-wide European culture. The nineteenth century in Europe was a time of unprecedented artistic achievement. It was also the first age of cultural globalization--an epoch when mass communications and high-speed rail travel brought Europe together, overcoming the barriers of nationalism and facilitating the development of a truly European canon of artistic, musical, and literary works. By 1900, the same books were being read across the continent, the same paintings reproduced, the same music played in homes and heard in concert halls, the same operas performed in all the major theatres. Drawing from a wealth of documents, letters, and other archival materials, acclaimed historian Orlando Figes examines the interplay of money and art that made this unification possible. At the center of the book is a poignant love triangle: the Russian writer Ivan Turgenev; the Spanish prima donna Pauline Viardot, with whom Turgenev had a long and intimate relationship; and her husband Louis Viardot, an art critic, theater manager, and republican activist. Together, Turgenev and the Viardots acted as a kind of European cultural exchange--they either knew or crossed paths with Delacroix, Berlioz, Chopin, Brahms, Liszt, the Schumanns, Hugo, Flaubert, Dickens, and Dostoyevsky, among many other towering figures. As Figes observes, nearly all of civilization's great advances have come during periods of heightened cosmopolitanism--when people, ideas, and artistic creations circulate freely between nations. Vivid and insightful, The Europeans shows how such cosmopolitan ferment shaped artistic traditions that came to dominate world culture.

'Magnificent. Beautifully written, immaculately researched and thoroughly absorbing from start to finish. A tour de force that explains how Europe's cultural life transformed during the course of the 19th century - and so much more' Peter Frankopan From the bestselling author of Natasha's Dance, The Europeans is richly enthralling, panoramic cultural history of nineteenth-century Europe, told through the intertwined lives of three remarkable people: a great singer, Pauline Viardot, a great writer, Ivan Turgenev, and a great connoisseur, Pauline's husband Louis. Their passionate, ambitious lives were bound up with an astonishing array of writers, composers and painters all trying to make their way through the exciting, prosperous and genuinely pan-European culture that came about as a result of huge economic and technological change. This culture - through trains, telegraphs and printing - allowed artists of all kinds to exchange ideas and make a living, shuttling back and forth across the whole continent from the British Isles to Imperial Russia, as they exploited a new cosmopolitan age. The Europeans is Orlando Figes' masterpiece. Surprising, beautifully written, it describes huge changes through intimate details, little-known stories and through the lens of Turgenev and the Viardots' touching, strange love triangle. Events which we now see as central to European high culture are made completely fresh, allowing the reader to revel in the sheer precariousness with which the great salons, premieres and bestsellers came into existence.

Opening with a panorama of Russian society, from the cloistered world of the Tsar to the brutal life of the peasants, this book follows workers, soldiers, intellectuals and villagers as their world is consumed by revolution and then degenerates into violence and dictatorship.

A beautiful Penguin Classics clothbound edition of Tolstoy's magnificent epic novel of love, conflict, fate and human life in all its imperfection and grandeur At a glittering society party in St Petersburg in 1805, conversations are dominated by the prospect of war. Terror swiftly engulfs the country as Napoleon's army marches on Russia, and the lives of three young people are changed forever. The stories of quixotic Pierre, cynical Andrey and impetuous Natasha interweave with a huge cast, from aristocrats and peasants to soldiers and Napoleon himself. In War and Peace, Tolstoy entwines grand themes - conflict and love, birth and death, free will and faith - with unforgettable scenes of nineteenth-century Russia, to create a magnificent epic of human life in all its imperfection and grandeur.Translated with an introduction and notes by Anthony Briggs, and with an afterword by Orlando Figes Anthony Briggs's superb translation combines stirring, accessible prose with fidelity to Tolstoy's original, while Orlando Figes's afterword discusses the novel's vast scope and depiction of Russian identity. This edition also contains appendices, notes, a list of prominent characters and maps.'A masterpiece ... This new translation is excellent' - Anthony Beevor

AN ORIGINAL READING OF THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION, EXAMINING IT NOT AS A SINGLE EVENT BUT AS A HUNDRED-YEAR CYCLE OF VIOLENCE IN PURSUIT OF UTOPIAN DREAMS In this elegant and incisive account, Orlando Figes offers an illuminating new perspective on the Russian Revolution. While other historians have focused their examinations on the cataclysmic years immediately before and after 1917, Figes shows how the revolution, while it changed in form and character, nevertheless retained the same idealistic goals throughout, from its origins in the famine crisis of 1891 until its end with the collapse of the Soviet regime in 1991. Until the very end of the Soviet system, its leaders believed they were carrying out the revolution Lenin had begun. With the authority and distinctive style that have marked his magisterial histories, Figes delivers an accessible and paradigm-shifting reconsideration of one of the defining events of the twentieth century.

What caused the Russian Revolution?Did it succeed or fail?Do we still live with its consequences?Orlando Figes teaches history at Birkbeck, University of London and is the author of many acclaimed books on Russian history, including A People's Tragedy, which The Times Literary Supplement named as one of the '100 most influential books since the war', Natasha's Dance, The Whisperers, Crimea and Just Send Me Word. The Financial Times called him 'the greatest storyteller of modern Russian historians.'

Hilsen ved midnatt er den enestående, sanne fortellingen om to unge russere, Lev og Svetlana. Andre verdenskrig og gulagene rev dem bort fra hverandre og holdt dem adskilt i fjorten år, men de mistet aldri troen på hverandre og utvekslet tusenvis av hemmelige brev mens Lev kjempet for å overleve i Stalins leire. Dette bemerkelsesverdige forrådet av smuglet korrespondanse er den eneste kjente samtidige skriftlige skildringen av livet i Stalins Gulag, og ved bruk av brevene forteller Orlando Figes historien om to utrolige mennesker som klarer å holde sin hengivenhet for hverandre i live, selv i de grusomste tider. Deres historie har fengslet lesere verden over. INTERNASJONAL SENSASJON OG BESTSELGER!"En vakker beretning om kjærlighet som trosset Stalins Gulag, basert på en enestående brevsamling." Alf Kjetil Igland, Fædrelandsvennen, Terning 6"Enestående brevveksling fra livet i Stalins Gulag" Guri Hjeltnes, VG, Terning 6"Figes har klart noe aldeles enestående … Gulagens historie savner individer som vi kan identifisere oss med: en Primo Levi, en Anne Frank eller til og med en Oskar Schindler. Hilsen ved midnatt kan meget godt være boken som endrer på det … En type kjærlighet flesteparten av oss bare kan drømme om.” Independent ”Hjerteskjærende, lidenskapelig, vakker, fortvilende, oppløftende … en fortelling om håp, gjenstridighet, mot og kjærlighet.” The Times "Vidunderlig … umulig å legge fra seg” Washington Independent Review of Books”Denne sanne historien er uforglemmelig ... leses som historieskriving i romanform.” Telegraph”Umåtelig rørende … en oppløftende perle av en bok” Literary Review ”Like fascinerende og inspirerende som den er hjerteskjærende. Man blir overveldet av beundring for omtanken, motet og generøsiteten til mennesker som omgis av forferdelige farer … Umulig å lese uten å felle tårer.” Simon Sebag Montefiore, Financial Times”En bevegende og minneverdig beretning. Boken lar seg lese som en roman … fengslende.” Evening Standard