St. Petersburg

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St. Petersburg, founded by Peter the Great, is a city marked by its artifice and storied past, serving as a backdrop for political and artistic visionaries. This award-winning narrative history captures the city's evolution from its establishment in a swampy war zone in 1703 to its pivotal role in dismantling Soviet power and ushering Russia into the twenty-first century. The author highlights the city's unparalleled upheavals, violence, and suffering during the first half of the 20th century. Extensively researched yet accessible, the book explores Petersburg's political, social, economic, architectural, cultural, and intellectual history, detailing significant global events and the lives of remarkable figures like Catherine the Great, Fedor Dostoevsky, Alexander Pushkin, Anna Akhmatova, and Anatoly Sobchak. It emphasizes the city's crucial role in connecting Russia to the West, modernizing the nation, and fostering civil society, all while painting a vivid picture of a St. Petersburg shaped by war, revolution, and artistic expression. In December 2005, it received the prestigious Antsiferov Prize in Russia for the best book by a foreign author about the city.