Figes’s “ The Story of Russia” is the most detailed, astute and compelling of the three it wears its learning lightly and weaves a well-crafted history together with an insightful examination of the narratives that have become “fundamental to the Russians’ understanding of their history and national character.” All three books illuminate the deep historical wellsprings of Putin’s war on Ukraine and the accompanying crackdown in Russia itself. Writing in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine, authors Rodric Braithwaite and Orlando Figes are readier to cast Putin not as a cynical manipulator of Russian history but as a firm believer in its apparent lessons. In “ A Short History of Russia: How the World’s Largest Country Invented Itself, From the Pagans to Putin,” Mark Galeotti recounts how Russia’s rulers have proved a largely pragmatic bunch, ready to rummage around in a grab bag of historical symbols, myths and traditions (many of them imported) to shore up their claims to power. Russia’s past is packed with traumas, ruptures, defeats and victories that have been invoked, distorted and reinvented by successive generations.

The popular aphorism that “Russia is a country with an unpredictable past” understandably works its way into all three books.

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