Type of bind: Hardcover
Format: Bargain Price
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 544
Printing Date: October 21, 2002
Sale Popularity Level: 794539
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This text provides a richly evocative exploration of Russia, its culture and people. Vast in scale and woven though with extraordinary stories and characters, it ranges from the splendour of 18th-century St Petersburg to the power of Stalinist propaganda, from folk art to the magic rituals of Asiatic shamans, from the poetry of Pushkin to the music of Mussorgsky and the films of Eisenstein, bringing to life an extraordinary cast of serf artists and aristocrats, revolutionaries and exiles, priests and libertines. Figes's book takes its title from a famous scene in 'War and Peace', where the young and beautiful Countess Natasha hears a popular melody and, instinctively aware of the peasant rhythm and steps, begins to dance to it. Tolstoy shows that, however grand and foreign-educated they might be, at heart the Russians are Russians. Here, Orlando Figes explores the meaning of Natasha's dance: the often contradictory impulses and shared sensibilities that have given rise to one of the world's most dazzling cultures. He shows how, perhaps more than any other country, Russia's sense of identity is embodied in its culture: not only its great poetry, music, books and paintings, but also in its common ideas, customs, habits and beliefs. Despite Russia's immense size and diversity it is this unique temperament that has held together a people scattered from Europe to Asia and enabled them to survive in the face of their own fearful history.
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Rated by buyers 
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Despite the author's ambivalent aversion to Slavophilism, he seemed to grasp the basics of Russian culture. This was not so much a review of Russian history--there are many of those--but how Russian culture incarnated in the Slavic lands.
Since other reviewers likely talked about the opening section, I will move to the part on the Russian Orthodox church. The cultural tidbits that interplayed into the Russian church was very interesting. While the parts dealing with Alexis Khomiakov were interesting, I wish he would have dug deeper. The part on Dostoevskii was very good.
I had some problems towards the end. It seems that any good cultural achievements made in Russia were made despite the Russian heritage. Figes downplayed Russian-ness but whenever an author or a figure had a trace of non-Caucasian in him, Figes saw it as a triumph of Africanism or Asianism.
His take on the backwardness of the Russian church was naieve. He argued that the average peasant was more pagan than Russian orthodox. His basis here is that the average peasant was "unedcuated." If by uneducated he meant unaware of the French philosophes, then Figes is correct. What Figes is not telling you is that the average peasant, owing to the rich liturgy of Russian Orthodoxy, had most of the gospels and Psalms memorized. Not bad for superstitious pagans, eh?
Rated by buyers 
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If you read only one book on Russia in your lifetime, it should be this one. I recommend ordering it without pause. Once you start reading, you won't want to stop, as it's very easy reading.
As a Russian citizen who now lives in the United States and visits occasionally, I found the book to be completely accurate. More than any other book on Russia that I've read, it jives with my personal experiences and makes perfect sense. It does a better job explaining various phenomenons in Russian history and culture than any other work I've read. Once you read it and hold it up against reality, you know this book is the truth.
Overall, this book is pure gold so far as books of any kind on Russia go. You can't go wrong with this choice. Everyone with the tiniest interest in the country, its culture, or its people should read Orlando Figes' masterwork.
Rated by buyers -
You may think you know a fair amount about Russia, but think again: This book will open your eyes to things about that huge, fascinating country that you never even suspected.
Specifically, this gives you a long, deep, vastly detailed picture of Russian culture, from its founding as an amalgam between the original Slavic inhabitants and their conquerors, the Mongols under Genghis Khan; to the very first effective uniting of the Russians under Tsar Ivan the Terrible; to Russia's very first prolonged contact with the culture of the rest of Europe in the reign of Peter the Great.
Figes shows us how the Russian aristocracy took on European manners and mores in the 18th Century, even to the extent of being more comfortable speaking French than its own language; and how the country's native culture continued to thrive among the serfs, or peasants, the "dark masses" of what would later be called the "proletariat." The schizophrenic nature of Russian society may have helped to produce its volcanic outpouring of world-renowned artistic talent, especially of writers and composers, in the 19th and 20th centuries.
A word of caution: Though this is a towering work, it is not an easy read, unless you are very familiar with Russian names and common terms in the Russian language. But if you persevere through all 586 pages of text, you'll emerge with a vastly increased knowledge and understanding of what the term "Russian culture" is really all about.
Rated by buyers -
Having lived in Russia six years and still in business there since 1991, I quickly learned that in Russia there is not only the proverbial two sides of the coin, but often three. Figes cetainly examines that underside of what makes a Russian different. He does it with revealing research and obvious affection and respect for those deep characteristics so unique to Russia and it's people. Certainly a scholarly work, but still entertaining, convincing, and a joy to read. As I have heard from Russian readers of my own book, "Why does it always take a foreigner to explain us." Figes is a master at that.
Frederick R. Andresen, Author of "Walking on Ice, An American Businessman in Russia"
Rated by buyers 
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I'm still in the middle of this thick book, and I find it fascinating--but my Russian colleagues tell me is it not altogether trustworthy in its portrayal of Russian history and culture, so I'm looking at it with an eye toward possible problems. That said, it is an eminently readable, fun way to get through a lot of the history of this endlessly fascinating country.
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