Military general, intelligence agent, aristocrat, author, historian, major player in the pre-Soviet Russian reactionary right, Alexander Dmitrievich Nechvolodov (1864-1938) yet remains a relatively obscure figure in the Western world's memory of the Russian revolution. In the early twentieth century, his masterpiece The Story of the Russian Land was regarded as one of the best works about the history of Russia and received the highest approval of Emperor Nicholas II, filling the country's libraries.
Originally written in 1909, Volume I covers the time period from antiquity to 1054, encompassing the initial dispersal of peoples throughout Eastern Europe, the culture of the Scythians and their various interactions with ancient empires and kingdoms, the relationships of the Rus' people with the Goths, Huns, Avars, Khazars, and others, the creation of the Kievan Rus' state and lives of their early rulers, and the religious influence of the Byzantine Empire on Kievan Rus' and their adoption of Christianity. The complete set of all four volumes was published in 1913 with the addition of over one thousand figures, mostly paintings and engravings, and this edition does include those figures that pertain to Volume I, which enrich the story tremendously. Much unlike the typical, dry historical text, The Story of the Russian Land truly is a story, told with passion and excitement from an author who loved his nation and her people and history.
Antelope Hill Publishing is honored to provide the first English translation of The Story of the Russian Land by Alexander Dmitrievich Nechvolodov. Complete with a foreword by the translator, Dennis Sinclair, as well as editorial annotations for the benefit of the modern reader and the addition of geographic maps, this story will captivate Russophiles and lovers of history alike.
