Orlando Figes |
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| Professor of History | |||
| Birkbeck College, University of London | |||
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United Kingdom |
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About Orlando Figes
In his most recent book, Crimea: The Last Crusade, Orlando Figes, Russian historian and Chair of History at Birkbeck College, the University of London, illuminates several important, though largely forgotten, aspects of the Crimean War. Published in the United Kingdom by Allen Lane and released in October 2010, Orlando Figes’ Crimea: The Last Crusade delivers a fresh view of the Crimean War from an international context. Orlando Figes trains the reader’s attention on such overlooked elements as the initial role of religion and its subsequent abandonment at the beginning of the war. According to Orlando Figes, the Turkish army enjoyed a number of successes against the Russians during the Crimean War, maintaining a strong stance in Wallachia, though it earned little credit from its better-provisioned allies, who would not share food with starving Turkish soldiers. Orlando Figes also discusses the importance to the Russian Army of lay nurse Daria Mikhailova, who served as a lesser-known counterpart to Florence Nightingale during the Siege of Sevastopol. Already receiving positive reviews from The Daily Telegraph, The Independent, and The Guardian, Orlando Figes’ Crimea: The Last Crusade is poised to generate similar appeal outside of the United Kingdom. Prior to Crimea: The Last Crusade, Orlando Figes published The Whisperers: Private Life in Stalin’s Russia; Natasha’s Dance: A Cultural History of Russia; Interpreting the Russian Revolution: The Language and Symbols of 1917 (with Boris Kolonitskii); A People’s Tragedy: The Russian Revolution 1891–1924; and Peasant Russia, Civil War: The Volga Countryside in Revolution, 1917–21. To read more about Crimea: The Last Crusade and Orlando Figes’ other books, visit his web site at orlandofiges.com.
Orlando Figes Links
