Russia and the Soviet Union: An Historical Introduction from the Kievan State to the Present

This lucid account of Russian and Soviet history presents major trends and events from ancient Kievan Rus' to Vladimir Putin's presidency of the twenty-first century. Now thoroughly revised and updated, Russia and the Soviet Union does not shy away from controversial topics, including the impact of the Mongol conquest, the paradoxes of Peter the Great, the “inevitability” of the 1917 Revolution, the Stalinist terror, and the Gorbachev reform effort. The sixth edition includes a new chapter on Vladimir Putin, additional treatment of social and foreign policy issues, and an updated chapter on post-Soviet Russia and the Yeltsin era. Distinguished by its brevity and amply supplemented with useful maps, illustrations, photos, and suggested readings, this essential text provides balanced coverage of all periods of Russian history and incorporates economic, social, and cultural developments as well as politics and foreign policy.

Contents

1. Ancient Russia and the Kievan State
2. Russia Divided and Conquered, 1054–1462
3. Moscow and “the Gathering of the Russian Lands,” 1328–1533
4. Ivan the Terrible and the Time of Troubles, 1533–1618
5. The Molding of Russian Society, 1613–1689
6. Peter the Great and Westernization, 1689–1725
7. Change and Continuity, 1725–1801
8. Power, Backwardness, and Creativity, 1801–1855
9. Reform, Reaction, and Modernization, 1855–1904
10. Revolution, Reform, and War, 1904–1917
11. Revolution, Civil War, and the Founding of Soviet Society, 1917–1928
12. The Second Revolution, the Stalinist System, and World War II, 1928–1946
13. The Soviet Union as a Superpower: Change, Stagnation, and “Cold War,” 1946–1984
14. The Gorbachev “Revolution” and the Collapse of the Soviet Union, 1983–1991
15. The “New” Russia in the Post-Soviet Era 1991–2000
16. Putin's Paradoxes

John M. Thompson, a graduate of Columbia's Russian Institute, taught history at Indiana University for seventeen years and was a distinguished visiting professor at the US Air Force Academy and the Air War College. He currently teaches Russian and world history at Midcoast Senior College in Maine.