Lost Kingdom
  • Published: 3 December 2018
  • ISBN: 9780141983134
  • Imprint: Penguin Press
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 432
  • RRP: $28.00

Lost Kingdom

A History of Russian Nationalism from Ivan the Great to Vladimir Putin

Formats & editions
Paperback
3 Dec 2018
EBook
10 Oct 2017
Buy from…
The Nile Mighty Ape BookHub Whitcoulls The Warehouse Paper Plus Fishpond Book Hero Unity Books University Book Shop Find Local Retailers

An astonishingly wide-ranging history of Russian nationalism from a pre-eminent scholar of Eastern Europe

In 2014, Russia annexed Crimea and attempted to seize a portion of Ukraine. While the world watched in outrage, this violation of national sovereignty was in fact only the latest iteration of a centuries-long effort to expand Russian boundaries and create a pan-Russian nation. In Lost Kingdom, award-winning historian Serhii Plokhy argues that we can only understand the merging of imperialism and nationalism in Russia today by delving into its history.

Spanning over two thousand years, from the end of the Mongol rule to the present day, Plokhy shows how leaders from Ivan the Terrible to Joseph Stalin to Vladimir Putin have exploited existing forms of identity, warfare and territorial expansion to achieve imperial supremacy.

A strikingly ambitious book, Lost Kingdom chronicles the long and belligerent history of Russia's empire and nation-building quest.
  • Published: 3 December 2018
  • ISBN: 9780141983134
  • Imprint: Penguin Press
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 432
  • RRP: $28.00
Categories:

About the author

Serhii Plokhy

Serhii Plokhy is Professor of History at Harvard University and a leading authority on the Cold War and nuclear history. His books include the Baillie Gifford award-winner Chernobyl: History of a Tragedy, Nuclear Folly, The Gates of Europe and The Last Empire.

Also by Serhii Plokhy

Atoms and Ashes
Nuclear Folly
The Gates of Europe
Forgotten Bastards of the Eastern Front
Chernobyl Roulette
The Russo-Ukrainian War
The Nuclear Age
See all

Praise for Lost Kingdom

In Lost Kingdom, Serhii Plokhy does for Russia what only great historians can do-make the connections between the distant past and vital present feel relevant and alive. . . With Russia everywhere in the news today, and every pundit pretending to be an expert, Lost Kingdom is essential reading for those wishing to understand Russia beyond the headlines

Garry Kasparov

Lost Kingdom is an erudite exploration of the contradictions of Russian nationalism. . . A master historian on top of his game, Serhii Plokhy lays out the challenges this past presents for transforming Russia into a better country for its people and its neighbours

Odd Arne Westad, author of The Cold War: A World History

Lost Kingdom tells the story of how the history of Russia was being written when that history was being made. . . A singularly fascinating account of Russian nationalism through the ages

Charles Clover, Financial Times

A sweeping study. . . Not merely an intellectual exercise but one closely linked to contemporary geostrategic debates

Wall Street Journal

Brisk and thoughtful, this book could hardly be more timely

Dominic Sandbrook, BBC History Magazine