Dějiny Ruska bez hranic
History of Russia without Borders

Summary/Abstract: ZUBOV, Andrej (ed.): Dějiny Ruska 20. století: 1894-2007. Ve dvou dílech. Praha, Argo, 2014 a 2015. The two-tome publication under review History of Russia in the 20th century: 1894–2007.In two tomes is a collective work of about forty authors, mainly Russian ones, under the leadership of historian Andrey Zubov, and its original edition (Istoria Rossii: XX vek,Vol. 1: 1894–1939; Vol. 2: 1939–2007. Moscow, AST-Astrel 2009) prompted a heated exchange of opinions in Russia. The reviewer describes principal aspects of the book’s criticism, noting that Zubov lost his job at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations in 2014 after criticizing the Russian annexation of Crimea. The conflict with the Russian political establishment has given him a reputation of a proscribed historian and the Czech edition of his work a lot of publicity. The reviewer concludes that the extensive synthesis of the Russian history since the end of the 19th till the beginning ofthe 21st centuries is a philosophical-historical treatise with roots in ideas of Alexander Solzhenitsyn and other conservative Russian thinkers rather than a professional historical work. The author’s concept stems from his conviction of a necessary spiritual and moral renaissance of the Russian society and state through Christian faith (Orthodox) and traditional values related thereto. The authors perceive the Russian history of the 20th century as a disaster, the key fatal factor being, in their opinion, the disintegration of religious, national and social unity. Their attitude to the Communist ideology and practice is utterly negative, and they also criticize Great Russian nationalism and expansionism. However, the reviewer claims their efforts to separate the “Russian” fromthe “Bolshevist” or “Soviet”, manifested by denying the society’s share in tragic events of the Russian history, are not too convincing. The book is undoubtedly important as a mirror of current Russian disputes concerning the direction the country should follow.

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