Tsars, Soviets, Putin : A Study of Russia’s Politics of History

Wojciech Materski’s book From the Tsars to "The Tsar" gives a synopsis of the politics of memory practiced by Russia from the sixteenth to the twenty-first century. He shows how irrespectively of the period in its history, Russia’s politics of memory have always been used as a tool to integrate the country’s inhabitants, reinforce the cult of their leader, cultivate the social attitudes and stereotypes its rulers wanted the people to embrace, and relativize their mistakes and crimes.The broad perspective Materski adopts provides a very substantial supplement to earlier work on the subject, or in fact takes the time range he considers much further, offering the latest, highly original and thoroughly researched synthesis of Russia’s politics of memory from the sixteenth to the twenty-first century. These qualities, alongside the current geopolitical situation overshadowed by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, make Wojciech Materski’s book an attractive offer not only for historians, political scientists, sociologists and specialists in international relations, but also for students and non-specialists looking for information on Russia’s history and foreign policy.

"Among Poland’s distinguished historians and political scientists of Russia and the Soviet Union, Professor Materski stands out as a giant in the field. […] The book traces and examines the politics of history (Geschichtspolitik) in Russia (the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union, and the Russian Federation) over the centuries. […] The records over the several centuries examined in this book demonstrate the extraordinary lengths to which the Russian/Soviet state has gone and still goes to mold historical research and historical memory for political purposes. […] The present book amply but subtly demonstrates the formidable erudition of Professor Materski. Its publication in English translation is to be welcomed by the Anglophone world as one of the best examples of Polish scholarship on the longue durée of Russian and Soviet history."

Hiroaki Kuromiya, Emeritus Professor of History, Indiana University, Bloomington (cited from the Foreword of this book)