A dense primer to medieval Russia which leans heavily towards the dynasts-and-battles model of history. As a timeline overview it's useful, but I found my eyes glazing over on more than one occasion. Janet Martin states that she is using the Riurikid dynasty to provide the chronological framework for her book, but since she neither starts really at their beginning, nor goes right to their end (she stops with Ivan IV, not with Feodor), that's not quite true and a bit puzzling. Perhaps this was done tactfully to avoid certain big political/historiographical sensitivities—I do not know enough about Russian history to say for certain—but in light of Recent World Events it's pretty glaring, as is the fact that the geographical focus of "Russia" that Martin is discussing here shifts from Kyiv to Moscow without any huge grappling with what that means. Martin definitely talks about how Kyivan Rus' is claimed as a forerunner by both the Muscovite church and state, but I wanted more of a breakdown of the difference between history and myth. ( )