Books by Orlando Figes
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English
review 1: I've liked some of Figes's other books, but this one left me cold. Partly that's because much of it is a warmed-over, Reader's Digest version of his more focused studies, but the book additionally tries to jam a hundred years of history into a thesis about "revolution" where the...
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review 1: At least for non-specialists, the definitive history of a suddenly relevant war. What is striking is that 19th Century Russophobic agitation in the West so closely resembles the rantings of our neocons and humanitarians-of-convenience, and the utter indifferences of élites to the...
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review 1: I too felt reluctant to vote low with this one as so many people suffered in the Gulag and the couple in this story went through a lot. However, I am rating the book and not their lives. I read it for bookclub and thought it would be the best one of the year but was let down. It'...
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review 1: I think that this book presents a reader with a comprehensive overview of the Crimean War and gives an intelligent insight into the present day international politics and Russian sentiment towards Crimea. Also, it highlights the tensions between the Russian administration and Mus...
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review 1: Excellent book about a war that is never talked about. The Crimean War is the 19th centuries' Korean conflict. It is not talked about much. Figg's did a great job explaining the war and how each side made massive blunders causing casualties. I walked away from this book with the...
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review 1: This book is based on a collection of letters between Svetlana Ivanova and Lev Mishchenko over many years and interviews with them and others. The couple donated their private archives to Memorial, a human rights research charity in Moscow, and Figes became aware of it shortly th...
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English
review 1: I loved this book. After reading this, Anne Applebaum's 'Gulag', and Anthony Beevor's 'Stalingrad' I'm still stunned & in awe of the Russian people, especially those born in the 20th century. They've endured so much hardship, so much misery, so many betrayals, so many lies & such...