pThis lucid account of Russian and Soviet history presents major trends and events from Kievan Rus' to Vladimir Putin's presidency in the twenty-first century.p pDirectly addressing controversial topics, this book looks at issues such as the impact of the Mongol conquest, the paradoxes of Peter the Great, the inevitability of the 1917 Revolution, the Stalinist terror, and the Gorbachev reform effort. This new ninth edition has been updated to include a discussion of Russian participation in the War in Donbas, eastern Ukraine, Russia's role in the Syrian civil war, the rise of opposition figure Alexei Navalny, Vladimir Putin's confirmation as president for life, recent Russian relations with the United States, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization NATO, and the European Union as well as contemporary social and cultural trends. Distinguished by its brevity and supplemented with substantially updated suggested readings that feature new scholarship on Russia and a thoroughly updated index