Red Fortress History and Illusion in the Kremlin [Paperback]

The Kremlin is the heart of the Russian state, its very name 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. To this day, its red stars and golden crosses blazing side by side, the Kremlin fulfills a centuries-old role: linking the country's present to its distant past and proclaiming the eternal continuity of the Russian state.

Drawing on a dazzling array of sources from unseen archives and rare collections, renowned historian Catherine Merridale traces the full history of this enigmatic compound of palaces and cathedrals, whose blood-red walls have witnessed more than eight hundred years of political drama and extraordinary violence. And with the Kremlin as a unique lens,Red Fortressbrings into focus the evolution of Russia's culture and the meaning of its politics.

Catherine Merridale is the author of the critically acclaimedIvan's War: Life and Death in the Red Army, 19391945, andNight of Stone: Death and Memory in Twentieth-Century Russia. A professor of contemporary history at Queen Mary University of London, she has also written forThe Guardian, theLiterary Review, and theLondon Review of Books, and contributes regularly to broadcasts on BBC radio. She lives in Oxfordshire, England.

Simply superb...A brilliant and unputdownable history of Russia itself. Simon Sebag Montefiore, The Telegraph (UK)

Magnificent...Merridale's extraordinary history of the red fortress mixes politics, history, architecture, and biography to lay bare the secret heart of Russia's history....A delight to read. The Wall Street Journal

A splendidly rich portrait of an exotic and puzzling redoubt...Vivid and meticulous...Merridale is a historian by training, but she has a detective's nose and a novelist's way with words. The Economist

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