RUSSIA`S EMPIRES

`Absorbing ... Longworth develops the idea in fascinating detail` -- Michael Kerrigan, Scotsman 20050618 `A vivid, highly readable style ... Russia`s Empires is a brilliantly ambitious survey of the whole of Russia`s imperial past. It is a battleground that has long been fought upon by historians ... Longworth`s gifts of synthesis and selection are especially well displayed ... [He has] an eye for essentials and a deep underlying knowledge` -- Laurence Kelly, Literary Review 20050701 `[Longworth] asks what it is that has made four successive Russian empires simultaneously aggressive and fragile ... All of these are excellent questions ... Longworth focuses rightly on Russia`s unique geography` -- Anne Applebaum, Sunday Telegraph 20050717 `Longworth has a light, informed touch ... This attractive account comes from an expert on important topics in more than one century.` -- Robert Service, Sunday Times 20050612 `An original treatment of Russian history that benefits from the author`s breadth of knowledge and fluent prose` -- BBC History 20051001 `[Longworth`s] authority is commanding... it is insignt into the quitessence of being Russian that makes this such rewarding reading. ...Longworth understands the predictive powers of history. In Russia -- and in theis book -- they stand large and clear.` -- Ross Leckie, The Times -- Ross Leckie, The Times 20060722 `A gripping and supremely readable book by the doyen of our historians of Russia, who truly knows how to bring this story of tsars and commissars to life. It combines shrewd analysis of Russia`s unique appetite for empire with a wonderful narrative pace and fine scholarship`