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RUSSIA: A History and Interpretation by Michael T. Florinsky

RUSSIA: A History and Interpretation

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Publisher: Macmillan

Report repeated from the March 1st bulletin, as follows: ""The author of Towards an Understanding of the USSR and World Revolution and the USSR Russian born lecturer in Economics at Columbia, here encompasses a thousand years of Russian history in two volumes. The thing that comes through the maze of Russia's complex history and the record of change in economics, social patterns, international relations and local politics is the extraordinary continuity of the Russian tradition which even today forms the foundation of Soviet history. Florinsky closes his volumes with the October Revolution, feeling that Soviet history demands a fresh approach, but claiming (and proving) that to understand it one must know the background. In each of his main divisions (From Kiev to Moscow- The First Moscow Period- The St. Petersburg Period) he summarizes the progress on every level, or-if the case may be- the deterioration. One has recurrently a sense of ""This is where I came in""- so often has Russia's history turned almost full circle. For one who has studied Russian history, this constitutes a refresher course, with modern interpretation. For any student of history to whom Russian history is a closed book, this is a wholly satisfactory presentation.