Geoffrey Hosking is Professor of Russian History at the University of London and the author of Russia: People and Empire and Russia and the Russians (both from Harvard).
"Rulers and Victims" is a comprehensive and nuanced book that will
startle many readers who might otherwise have assumed that Russia's
dominant place in the Soviet firmament had protected it from the
predations of a system that professed to revolve around its
language and culture. Mr. Hosking also helps us to grasp the
paradoxical outlook of Russia's current ruling class.--Joshua
Rubenstein"Wall Street Journal" (04/20/2006)
[This is] a uniquely rewarding overview: not history in the formal
sense, but a profound look at the whole of the Russian
phenomenon...Hosking expertly examines and illustrates all aspects,
past and present, of Russia's and Russians' behaviour, thought and
feelings. What emerges is the big picture achieved through smaller
brushstrokes, as he considers and often reconciles the
contradictory views of the Russian experience.--Robert
Conquest"Times Literary Supplement" (05/17/2006)
Hosking makes a strong argument for his thesis that Russians were
just as victimized as the other ethnic groups within the former
Soviet Union and in some cases more so. Quoting scholars, memoirs,
and letters, he presents a picture of the Soviet Union that is
somewhat different than what most people in the West had
believed...A valuable addition to the history of the Soviet
Union.--Frank Caso"Booklist" (04/01/2006)
Hosking successfully reveals how the Soviet "modernizing" project
hamstrung the creation of a Russian national identity, illuminating
the identity crisis that Russia is experiencing today. This
challenging, rigorously academic study is highly
recommended.--Tania Barnes"Library Journal" (04/15/2006)
Hosking takes a rather sympathetic view of a highly talented and
complex nation infused with a deep conviction that it bears a
special mission, whether as a spiritual "Third Rome," to counter
the consumerism and shallowness of the West, or as master of an
immense and enormously rich domain...Drawing on extensive
scholarship and voluminous primary sources, Hosking builds a strong
and authoritative argument that the Soviet Union "was both Russian
and anti-Russian."..The evidence Hosking marshals is
extensive.--Serge Schmemann"New York Times Book Review"
(07/02/2006)
Hosking traces the turbulences of the Soviet century to the clashes
between the incompatible messianic ideas of Orthodoxy and
socialism, their uncomfortable sit with the "the community spirit
of the Russian people," and the traditional authoritarianism of the
Russian Empire that reasserted itself under the Bolsheviks...[He]
makes an engaging and rich argument, illustrating his monograph
with examples drawn from a wide range of literary, political, and
historical sources.--Frederick Corney"Russian Review"
(04/01/2007)
Hosking's analysis of the failure of the internal Soviet state is
peerless...Hosking has always been a deeply thoughtful historian.
Here he delivers a beautifully written, profound and brilliant
analysis not just of the USSR but of Russianness itself: anyone who
wants to understand Russia today or who wonders why the Russians
are special should read this outstanding, sensitive book.--Simon
Sebag Montefiore"The Times" (06/03/2006)
Westerners have often equated Russia with the Soviet Union, though
it was only one of 15 republics in the USSR. Non-Russian citizens
of the Soviet Union similarly had little doubt that Russians were
the dominant--and privileged--national group. Yet despite Russians'
seemingly favored position in the Soviet constellation, for a good
part of the 20th century they were forced to stand by as their
nationhood was subverted or suppressed to meet the needs of the
state. That experience, which continues to affect Russian politics
today, is magisterially and chillingly documented by the British
historian Geoffrey Hosking in "Rulers and Victims"...A penetrating
account...Hosking's important and timely book provides an in-depth
look at the forces shaping Russian identity, illuminating the
aftershocks of the Soviet experience that are likely to reverberate
for years to come.--Rebecca Reich"Washington Post Book World"
(06/25/2006)
ÝHosking¨ provides a learned introduction to understanding the
complex character of Putin's Russia, where the passing of the
Soviet Union is mourned, but its resurrection not desired.
ÝThis is¨ a uniquely rewarding overview: not history in the formal
sense, but a profound look at the whole of the Russian
phenomenon...Hosking expertly examines and illustrates all aspects,
past and present, of Russia's and Russians' behaviour, thought and
feelings. What emerges is the big picture achieved through smaller
brushstrokes, as he considers and often reconciles the
contradictory views of the Russian experience. -- Robert Conquest
"Times Literary Supplement" (05/17/2006)
For all they have suffered, far-easterners Ýin Russia¨ are
umbilically attached to the motherland. Geoffrey Hosking's
patiently compassionate account of the Russian experience of the
Soviet Union explains how this mysterious, atavistic feeling both
survived and was exploited by the Soviet Union's rulers...He
combines a due sense of humility, when writing about the agonies of
war and famine, with a fine ear for a vignette...He is good on what
Russia did to communism, as well as vice versa: how old
pathologies--attitudes to law and to rulers--warped and undid the
experiment. Russian "Messianism," the old conviction that Russia
was and is a light unto the nations, is a leitmotif throughout the
book. He makes unobtrusive reflections on the subtler legacies of
the Soviet experience: the incivility bred by the civil war, and
the habits and manners shaped by breakneck urbanisation.
For all they have suffered, far-easterners [in Russia] are
umbilically attached to the motherland. Geoffrey Hosking's
patiently compassionate account of the Russian experience of the
Soviet Union explains how this mysterious, atavistic feeling both
survived and was exploited by the Soviet Union's rulers...He
combines a due sense of humility, when writing about the agonies of
war and famine, with a fine ear for a vignette...He is good on what
Russia did to communism, as well as vice versa: how old
pathologies--attitudes to law and to rulers--warped and undid the
experiment. Russian "Messianism," the old conviction that Russia
was and is a light unto the nations, is a leitmotif throughout the
book. He makes unobtrusive reflections on the subtler legacies of
the Soviet experience: the incivility bred by the civil war, and
the habits and manners shaped by breakneck urbanisation.
Hosking successfully reveals how the Soviet \"modernizing\" project
hamstrung the creation of a Russian national identity, illuminating
the identity crisis that Russia is experiencing today. This
challenging, rigorously academic study is highly recommended. --
Tania Barnes "Library Journal" (04/15/2006)
[Hosking] provides a learned introduction to understanding the
complex character of Putin's Russia, where the passing of the
Soviet Union is mourned, but its resurrection not desired.
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