A Concise History of Russia by Paul Bushkovitch (Cambridge Concise Histories, Cambridge University Press), 2012  491pp., £19.99 paper, ISBN 978-0-521-54323-1

This book is accessible to students and general readers and provides a broad overview of Russian history since the ninth century. The author emphasises the enormous changes in the understanding of Russian history resulting from the end of the Soviet Union in 1991. Since then, new material on the history of the Soviet era provides new notions of Russia's pre-revolutionary past. The book examines not only the political history of Russia, but also developments in its literature, art and science and well-known cultural figures, such as Chekhov and Tolstoy, in their institutional and historical contexts. Though the 1917 revolution, the resulting Soviet system and the Cold War were a crucial part of Russian and world history, earlier developments are regarded as more than just a prelude to Bolshevik power.  For any student trying to get a grasp of the essentials of Russian history this lively and readable book is the place to start.