It's difficult to imagine a nation with a history more compelling for Americans than Russia. Yet many of us have never had the opportunity to study Russia in depth, and to truly recognize its importance in the epic story of human civilization. These comprehensive 36 lectures focus on 300 years of Russian history from Peter the Great to Gorbachev. In each one, you'll examine the lives of the men and women who, in fact, were Russia. In this learning experience that's history as told through biography, you'll examine key individuals and groups, the contexts in which they thought and acted, and their driving ideas. Among the many intriguing topics you'll encounter in these lectures are the revolution of Peter the Great, Catherine the Great, the Decembrist Uprising, the early years of Russian Socialism, Alexander II, Nicholas II, Stalin, Gorbachev, and Communism. Professor Steinberg draws on his own years of experience as an author, a student in the Soviet Union in the 1980s, and, more recently, as a world-class historian granted access to once-secret government archives. He bring to these historically rich lectures not just an expansive knowledge of the subject but an abiding appreciation for just how influential Russia has been in shaping the world we currently live in.
