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A Kingdom and a Village

A One-Thousand-Year History of Moscow
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A Kingdom and a Village

By: Simon Morrison
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

An erudite and entertaining history of Moscow, a city whose rich past offers crucial insight into contemporary global politics

Moscow stands at the centre of a nation comprising eleven percent of the globe’s landmass, eleven time zones and nearly one hundred and fifty million people, some thirteen million of whom live in the capital. A Kingdom and a Village vividly brings to life Russia’s heart and soul, tracing its transformation from a ‘big village’ into a metropolis of vast geopolitical import.

It is a stranger-than-fiction arc. The last century alone has featured invasions and battles, the destruction and reconstruction of sacred landmarks, and the collapse of the Soviet republic – not to mention the rise of an authoritarian leader who is a keen student of Russian history. Morrison reaches back to the city’s founding as a fortress on a river nearly a millennium ago. In the following centuries, any number of external forces – from Tatar Mongols and Swedes to Napoleon and Hitler – set their sights on Moscow, bolstering its self-conception as a glittering prize and site of perpetual defence and resurrection.

Understanding Moscow not only unlocks the spellbinding mysteries of Russia’s past, but also the grim logic of its present. A Kingdom and a Village is an essential guide to a people and a nation.

'A marvellous book' HELEN RAPPAPORT, author of The Rebel Romanov

‘Every page pulses with individual stories and historical insights' MARK GALEOTTI, author of A Short History of Russia

‘Morrison is the perfect biographer of Moscow’ SHAUN WALKER, author of The Illegals

© Simon Morrison 2026 (P) Penguin Audio 2026

 Civilisation Modern Russia World

Critic Reviews

It takes huge imaginative vision and a deep on-the-ground knowledge of Moscow, acquired over many years, to grasp the full dynamism of the city’s history. But Simon A Morrison has pulled it off. His ambitious, erudite account is vivid and compelling, a wonderful conjuring up of Russia’s great capital in all its beauty, fire and fury (Helen Rappaport, author of The Rebel Romanov)
Russia is more than just Moscow, but it has long been its beating heart – at once bloody and life-giving – and this book captures its progress from insignificant hamlet to modern megalopolis magnificently. Every page pulses with individuals' stories or historical insights, making this a wonderful biography of a city, its rulers and people (Mark Galeotti, author of A Short History of Russia)
A preeminent historian of Russian history and culture, Simon Morrison is the perfect biographer of Moscow, one of the world’s most fascinating and enigmatic cities (Shaun Walker, author of The Illegals)
A magisterial account of Moscow … gripping and enlightening … At a time when Russia is once again trying to remake the borders of Europe and the nature of politics in the world, Simon Morrison gives us a new way to understand this vast and ever-changing country through its singularly compelling capital city (Ben Rhodes, author of After the Fall)
A sweeping history of Moscow that combines taut storytelling with penetrating analysis … Simon Morrison brings to life the contradictory legacies of power, violence and creativity that have shaped the city as a nexus of empire. A timely and indispensable guide for anyone wanting to understand Moscow (Rebecca Reich, Professor of Russian Literature and Culture, University of Cambridge)
A gem of a book … With vivid writing and an astonishing body of research, Simon Morrison creates a mesmerizing tale of how Moscow came to be’ (Jill Dougherty, author of My Russia)
Morrison’s riveting biography of Moscow is breathtaking in its span – covering architecture, music, society, institutions, leaders’ decisions and the ordinary people’s response, and much more. It is also a beautifully written story of Morrison’s personal relationship with Russia that began in 1990 when he visited Moscow for the first time (Nina Khrushcheva, co-author of In Putin's Footsteps)
A winning account [and] revealing portrait of a city that has made and been made by an always difficult history
A Kingdom and a Village is not just a fine work of history; it is a vivid demonstration of Simon Morrison’s skills as a storyteller. For those who already know Moscow inside and out or are learning about the city’s past for the first time, this book turns ten centuries of history into ten days of highly enjoyable reading (Eliot Borenstein, Professor of Russian and Slavic Studies, NYU)
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