Robert Service

The Penguin History of Modern Russia by Robert Service is the definitive history, now revised and updated with a new final chapter covering Russia's role in the world in 2020. Russia's recent past has encompassed revolution, civil war, mass terror, and two world wars, and the country is still undergoing huge change. In his acclaimed history, now updated to 2020,...

From acclaimed historian and author of Kremlin Winter and Blood on the Snow, a dramatic and expertly researched account of an extraordinary moment in Russia's recent history: The August Coup. In the summer of 1991, a group of eight plotters came together to overthrow Mikhail Gorbachëv, then the president of the USSR. These ruthless conspirators, who occupied positions of high...

A terrific book about a terrifying subject by the best historian of Russia working today - Michael Burleigh, author of The Third Reich In Blood on the Snow, Robert Service returns to the subject that has formed the backbone of his long and distinguished career: the Russian Revolution. For Service, the great unanswered question is how to reconcile the two...

Blood on the Snow, by Robert Service, tackles a terrifying subject with insight and authority, as noted by Michael Burleigh, who describes it as 'A terrific book about a terrifying subject by the best historian of Russia working today'. In Blood on the Snow, Service returns to the subject that has formed the backbone of his long and distinguished career:...

Vladimir Putin has dominated Russian politics since Boris Yeltsin relinquished the presidency in his favour in May 2000. He served two terms as president, before himself relinquishing the post to his prime minister, Dimitri Medvedev, only to return to presidential power for a third time in 2012. Putin's rule, whether as president or prime minister, has been marked by a...