Why I Wrote a Book about Russia

Winston Churchill once famously described Russia as "a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma." Seventy-some years later, the quip still stands as a frequently cited explanation for why Russia simply cannot be understood...

Most of us in the West see Russia as through a glass, darkly. We catch glimpses through dashcam videos, spy movies, and news headlines. And with the new "iron curtain" (to use another Churchillism) surrounding Russia since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the mystique of Moscow has only grown. If anything, Russia has become even more inscrutable.

But perhaps the reason why Russia seems so foreign is because we see it and interpret it without context: we dwell on the 20 seconds of an internet clip, or the trappings of a gulag in a video game. Or, worse, we see it through Cold War context: Russia is simply uninterpretable, impossible to rationally examine, intrinsically hostile.

In a new book just released by Russian Life, I argue that, to really get to the bottom of why Russia is the way it is, we need to take a broader view. A view that not only looks at the long path that has gotten Russia to where it is, but that also includes the way Russia interprets its past.

I contend that it's the retelling of history that drives the Kremlin's actions. By looking at how Russia tells its past, we can gain a deeper understanding of its context and its path forward.

I've been interested in this topic for over a decade. When I was a teenager and went to Russia for the first time, as part of a school exchange trip, I was floored that, when comparing the stories of World War II, we had a completely different narrative from the Russian students. As an undergrad, I started studying Russian more seriously, and in grad school, I wrote my thesis on how the modern Kremlin points to medieval Russian history (check out a presentation of it here). Since 2021, I've been Russian Life's Managing Digital Editor, and I've written plenty on patriotism, reenactment, monuments, and more historical wackiness.

In the wake of Russia's War on Ukraine, our need to understand Russia is even more important. As both sides call each other "Nazis", as Putin claims to be recapturing "Novorossiya," and as narratives are twisted and turned to serve an agenda, the past looms.  The time was right, I felt, to take something that has fascinated me for years and put it into a single work: "How Russia Got That Way: Russian History and Why It Matters."

The book starts with an introduction, laying out the argument and some ground rules. From there, it goes through all of Russian history. The goal was to summarize and provide a general framework, not to be exhaustive.

In the last few chapters, I apply the historical narrative to Putin and the modern Kremlin, before diving into the Ukraine war and discussing how history is actively playing a role in Russian policy and strategy. Lest this should intimidate you, the whole work is only 174 pages long (thanks to some miraculous work by my editor), yet it also includes more than 40 full-color images and maps (including a cool one showing how Russia has expanded over the centuries).

If you're interested in this subject, I humbly encourage you to check it out. You can pick it up on Russian Life's store (here) where it's ready to ship, or on Amazon (here) where it's not yet in stock (but you'll receive it once it's ready). The ebook versions will also be available soon and direct links to Amazon Kindle and iTunes versions will be posted on the book page here.

Happy reading!

- Griffin Edwards