Over the course of twelve centuries, Russia&apos;s peoples overcame the constant challenges posed by geography, climate, availability of natural resources, and devastating foreign invasions to become the world&apos;s second largest land empire and the largest in modern history. This energetic introduction to Russia&apos;s history follows the development of local tribes into a federation of principalities centered at Kiev, the shift of power to Moscow and the centralization of the state, and Russia&apos;s pursuit of imperial ambitions. It examines the circumstances that led to the foundation of the world&apos;s first communist society in 1917, and traces the global consequences of Russia&apos;s extensive confrontation with the United States. Russia&apos;s arduous and costly climb to great power gains a personal dimension through the stories of individual women and men-pivotal figures as well as common people-illuminating the human consequences of sweeping historical change. Peoples of many ethnicities became part of the Russian empire and suffered or benefitted from its leaders&apos; efforts to meld a multiethnic polity into a coherent political entity. This book examines how Russia served as a conduit for people, ideas, and commodities - owing between east and west, north and south and how it came to play an increasingly important role on a global scale.