A Kingdom and a Village

Autor: Simon Morrison
Wydawnictwo: Vintage
Indeks:
9781847926524

An erudite and entertaining history of Moscow, a city whose rich past offers crucial insight into contemporary global politicsMoscow stands at the centre of a nation comprising eleven percent of the globe`s landmass, eleven time zones, and nearly one hundred and fifty million people, some thirteen...

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An erudite and entertaining history of Moscow, a city whose rich past offers crucial insight into contemporary global politicsMoscow stands at the centre of a nation comprising eleven percent of the globe`s landmass, eleven time zones, and nearly one hundred and fifty million people, some thirteen million of whom live in the capital. In A Kingdom and a Village, acclaimed historian Simon Morrison offers a vividly rendered history of Russia`s heart and soul, tracing its transformation from a `big village` – the demeaning nickname the St. Petersburg nobility gave to its provincial neighbour – into a spectacular metropolis of vast geopolitical import.That arc is the stuff of dramatic, violent, stranger-than-fiction historical narrative: the last century alone has featured invasions and costly battles, the destruction (and reconstruction) of sacred cultural and religious landmarks, and the collapse of the Soviet republic – not to mention the rise of an authoritarian leader who is a keen student of Russian history. Morrison reaches back to the city`s founding as a fortress on a river nearly a millennium ago. In the centuries that followed, any number of external forces – from Tatar Mongols and Swedes to Napoleon and Hitler – set their sights on Moscow, bolstering its self-conception as both a glittering prize and a site of perpetual defence and resurrection.Drawing on a rich array of archival materials, Morrison shows us that to understand Moscow is not only to unlock the spellbinding mysteries of Russia`s past, but also to grasp the grim logic of its present.A Kingdom and a Village is a magisterial biography of a place – and an essential guide to a people and a nation.