Stručné ruské dějiny – Galeotti Mark (2021)

A Brief History of Russia by Mark Galeotti focuses on the key events and figures that shaped the face of Russia and continue to reflect in the complicated relationships of this country with the West. It primarily concerns the Varangian (Viking) beginnings of Russian history, then over two hundred years of Mongol (Tatar) domination, and among later rulers, especially Ivan IV the Terrible, Peter I, Catherine II, and Nicholas I. The book primarily follows political history, considering the constant struggles of Russians with their own identity, oscillating between a belief in their own exceptionalism and an inclination towards the West, as its characteristic feature. The current Russian president Putin also advocates for Russian exceptionalism, which the author sees as a transitional type between the Soviet era and a truly post-Soviet, that is, liberal, era. But while Putin strengthens the nationalist version of Russian history and has opted for confrontation with the West in foreign policy, ordinary Russians share similar desires as people in the West – in this sense, present-day Russia is closer to the West than ever before.