A History of Russia: Peoples, Legends, Events, Forces: Since 1800

I was very interested in History when I was at school and used to read a lot about ancient Greece, Rome and Middle Ages. This was greatly accessible in USSR. A few years ago I started reading history books again and was looking for a general Russia history book. I bought this one and recently started reading a few months ago, reading 10-25 pages every week now. A bit dry sometimes but really good in explaining various forces and pressures, cultural aspects and with plenty of maps and pictures. You may wonder why I, a native Russian, read in English? The reason is that I write books in English myself and voracious reading in English helps me to attain native fluency in written English. Thanks, Dmitry Vostokov Founder of Literate Scientist Blog

This is a very interesting and (overall) well written textbook which I used in Russian history. It should be noted that the book is written by four separate individuals, each of whom has a very different writing style. The early chapters (from Riyurik to the beginning of Muscovy) can be difficult to understand (upon meeting their author, I understand completely), but the book hits its stride with "Part II" and the advent of Lindsey Hughes's much clearer writing. Stites and Evtuhov are also easy to understand, but Goldfrank requires a rereading (or two) before you realize what he's saying.