We can all treat history with more respect. If we do, we might find that the cure for the Russia Anxiety is within reach . . .
Mark B. Smith teaches in the Faculty of History at the University of Cambridge. He is the author of Property of Communists- The Urban Housing Program from Stalin to Khrushchev and the blog Beyond the Kremlin.
A fluent meditation on Russian history, a gallant attempt to reason
with those who believe that Russia is condemned to an endless cycle
of failed reform and resurgent authoritarianism ... a welcome
antidote to the overwrought stuff about Russia so widespread in the
West today.
*History Today*
Compelling... Russian history is many layered, Smith argues, and
the deeper we dig the more apparent it becomes that the tropes of
Russophobic history bear little or no relation to reality ... As a
Russian history specialist, he deploys his deep knowledge of the
country's culture, society and peoples to capture with verve and
imagination the grand sweep of its history, and combines this with
an astute commentary on contemporary politics.
*Irish Times*
Fizzing with energy, Mark B. Smith's book explodes many myths about
the Russians and compels us to reflect critically on ourselves.
*Simon Dixon, author of Catherine the Great*
In this exciting and provocative book, Mark B. Smith blows apart
misconceptions about the Russian past ... Smith's energy and
dynamism carry the day.
*Times Higher Education*
The author is a highly informed guide, [who] prompts a review of
prejudices ... Smith makes an important fundamental point: we must
talk to the Russians and live alongside them.
*The Times*
Smith makes a very strong case that Russia's past needs to be
considered as much more complex than it generally is. For that
reason alone, this book deserves a large audience ... The Russia
Anxiety is a very welcome book. It provides a provocative and much
needed analysis of Russian history which ably shows the
oversimplified nature of most Western understandings of Russia.
*Paul Robinson, author of RUSSIAN CONSERVATISM and Professor of
History at the University of Ottawa*
The Russia Anxiety is a valuable effort to assess the long history
of the West's Russia-related worries ... Regrettably, more than
five years [since the annexation of Crimea], the United States
seems no closer to developing either a strategy or a policy to
manage its relationship with Russia. Mark Smith's provocative book
won't solve that problem alone, but it does offer some valuable
guidance in thinking about solutions.
*Russia Matters*
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