This is an academic textbook that covers the history of Rus/Russia to approximately 2010. Its covers both classic history but also culture of each time period. The authors are well read and sometimes appear to be unable to strongly favor any point of view. It is less straightforward than Russia and Russians which is a more one opinion work. I enjoyed learning a lot. The only flaw/disappointment was how they dealt with Stalin or rather did not deal with him. From reading this text one would not get the impression of who or what Stalin was.

All and all a good read for anyone wanting an english text that deals with Russian and particularly good are the insights into culture in different time periods.