Combining in-depth research with his personal experiences as the BBC Moscow correspondent for almost 20 years, Sixsmith tells Russia's full and fascinating story, from its foundation in the last years of the 10th century to the first years of the 21st, skillfully tracing the conundrums of modern Russia to their roots in its troubled past.

Martin Sixsmith is the author of Moscow Coup: The Death of the Soviet System, The Litvinenko file: The True Story of a Death Foretold, and two novels. Educated at Harvard, Oxford, and the Sorbonne, he was the BBC Moscow correspondent for many years.