A History of Modern Russia: From Nicholas II to Vladimir Putin, Revised Edition

This is one of the easier reads on Russian history. I look forward to reading some of Service's other works.

It's important to understand the context of this review. I'm not a history buff, and I have no training in history. I'm going on my first trip to Russia in a month and wanted to understand more about Russian history than the five pages of context in my Fodor's. This was quite a lot more than that, but it has served me well. It's an intellectual read, but very well written - as a non-academic I enjoyed it greatly. If you are a "casual" historian preparing for a trip, this will be a thorough overview for you. If you just want a medium-strength review of Russia (more than Fodors, but not 600 pages), it might be a little more than you need.

A Good, Highly comprehensive History book of Modern Russia. I really liked it and highly recommend it to anybody taking a course on Russian History, or just curious about History.

Russia is the ultimate story, a story of grandeur of false hopes and shattered dreams. Churchill gave Russia that interesting title of the enigma inside the mystery inside the riddle. However this book does better by truly telling us the grand story of Russia, without the weakness of similar books on the subject. Many important subjects are covered, from the traditional tale of revolution, Stalin, stagnation, collapse. Here the reader is treated to nuanced stories, such as Krushchevs suppression of the church which left only 7500 Churches ion Russia, whereas 12000 Mosques were left standing. Also evident is the population upheavals of the 1920s and 1930s. Equally important is a very good rendition of the complications of the Civil war and the creation of War communism. All the characters are given a fair portrait from Derzinsky, to Sverlov, to the obvious, such as Zinoviev and Stalin. The successive chapters on the `mystery years' of Brezhnev is enlightening, to view a nation in stagnation. Although not as insightful as Volkoganov's expose on soviet leadership this book brings to light many tales and is a fascinating, easy digestion, that brings the reader up to date, with Vladimir Putin. Seth J. Frantzman