{"product_id":"9781455426140","title":"A Short History of Russia (1907)","description":"First published in 1907.  According to the Preface: \"If this book seems to have departed from the proper ideal of historic narrative--if it is the history of a Power, and not of a People--it is because the Russian people have had no history yet.  There has been no evolution of a Russian nation, but only of a vast governing system; and the words \"Russian Empire\" stand for a majestic world-power in which the mass of its people have no part.  A splendidly embroidered robe of Europeanism is worn over a chaotic, undeveloped mass of semi-barbarism.  The reasons for this incongruity--the natural obstacles with which Russia has had to contend; the strange ethnic problems with which it has had to deal; its triumphant entry into the family of great nations; and the circumstances leading to the disastrous conflict recently concluded, and the changed conditions resulting from it--such is the story this book has tried to tell.\"","brand":"B\u0026R Samizdat Express","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47125482143984,"sku":"9781455426140","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781455426140_p0.jpg?v=1763855232","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781455426140","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}