Red Fortress: History and Illusion in the Kremlin

A magisterial, richly detailed history of the Kremlin, and of the centuries of Russian elites who have shaped it—and been shaped by it in turn

The Moscow Kremlin is the heart of the Russian state, a fortress whose blood-red walls have witnessed more than eight hundred years of political drama and extraordinary violence. It has been the seat of a priestly monarchy, a worldly church and the Soviet Union; it has served as a crossroads for diplomacy, trade, and espionage; it has survived earthquakes, devastating fires, and at least three revolutions. Its very name is a byword for enduring power. From Ivan the Terrible to Vladimir Putin, generations of Russian leaders have sought to use the Kremlin to legitimize their vision of statehood.

Drawing on a dazzling array of sources from hitherto unseen archives and rare collections, renowned historian Catherine Merridale traces the full history of this enigmatic fortress. The Kremlin has inspired innumerable myths, but no invented tales could be more dramatic than the operatic successions and savage betrayals that took place within its vast compound of palaces and cathedrals. Today, its sumptuous golden crosses and huge electric red stars blaze side by side as the Kremlin fulfills its centuries-old role, linking the country’s recent history to its distant past and proclaiming the eternal continuity of the Russian state.

More than an absorbing history of Russia’s most famous landmark, Red Fortress uses the Kremlin as a unique lens, bringing into focus the evolution of Russia’s culture and the meaning of its politics.

SAMPLE CUSTOMER REVIEWS -

1) Red Fortress is a detailed popular history of Moscow's famous Kremlin by an expert on Russia - "Kremlin" is the Red Fortress sitting on the Moscow River. For over eight hundred years the citadel has stood at the very heart of Russian's lengthy and bloody history of ruthless terror, persecution and dictatorship. The Kremlin has seen rulers come and go from Ivan the Terrible to Peter the Great, Catherine the Great, the Romanov Tsars (the first Romanov ruler began to rule Russia in 1613;l the dynasty lasted until the murder of Tsar Nicholas II and his entire family at the hand of the Bolsheviks in 1918). The most interesting part of the book, to this reviewer, was the last part of the long book in which the author deals with the rule of Stalin, Khruschev, Andropov, and the last Soviet ruler Gorbachev. She also has important points to make about Boris Yeltsin and his corrupt government and the autocratic present day rule of Putin.

Dr. Catherine Merridale is a British Scholar who has written extensively on Russia. I have read her earlier book "Ivan's War" concerning Soviet troops in World War II which I found of great historical interest. This interest led me to this new volume. It is presented in a dry and academic style. Many pages are devoted to the various churches, cathedrals, palaces and meeting rooms included within the wide and forbidding Kremlin walls. Much of this material will be new to Western readers with many finding the information to be dull and quickly forgotten!
To tell the story of the Kremlin is to tell the story of Russia that enigma wrapped inside a mystery. The book though dry contains valuable material for anyone interested in Russia, the Kremlin and the leaders of this large and important country.

By C. M Mills TOP 1000 REVIEWER on December 23, 2013

2) "The Kremlin is a place where history is concentrated." - Having spent my share of time under my school desk waiting for the powers of the Kremlin to send an atomic bomb, I have a deep seated curiosity for the stories of the Red Fortress. "The Kremlin is one of the most famous structures in the world." It has ever been a place designed to suggest historically rooted power. This book traces its inception in the earliest days of the rude, swampy Moscow to the present time. It is a landmark that has endured multiple incarnations, burning almost to the ground more than once. Lasting monuments have been wrecked to make room for other buildings fated to fall. This book traces both the structure of the Kremlin and the historic context of its changing legend.

The book has a slow start with the discussion of early Russia and it's swiftly changing rulers. The list of buildings and the sweep of change becomes a blur of names and construction. Somewhere around the emergence of the early Tsars, the story takes a more engaging shape and pulls the reader into the romance of a fortress and its people. I admit the book became truly bewitching to me with the entrance of the Soviets, and ironically their demolition of much its precious history. The stories from behind the scenes of Stalin's windswept end granite fort make for a clear dissertation on the intersection of the image and the building. This is the beginning of era of the iron tipped parades of May Day projected to the Western World.

This book has undertaken a huge task with the vagaries of a vast history and its mythologies. This book is intricate in its record of the entwining of the Kremlin and its people. In its turn, it beguiles the reader and delivers an encompassing history with graceful commentary and an author's clear affection for her subject. Past the collapse of the Soviet, Russia remains a source of foreign mystique, and its star still rest in the Red Fortress.

By Amelia Gremelspacher TOP 500 REVIEWER on November 15, 2013

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Red Fortress: History and Illusion in the Kremlin