The Crimean War: A History

‘Engrossing… In a book densely packed with incident, Figes highlights the influence of the press and the brutal casualties that the war produced… Could make a hardened war correspondent’s blood run cold.’

—The New Yorker

‘Important and impressive… it is freshly informed by Russian sources, of which [Figes] is a master…. [The Crimean War] admirably narrates the saga in its international and religious setting.’

—Max Hastings, New York Review of Books

‘Meticulously researched… Comprehensive and compelling… Using a startling array of sources, from government records, news articles, and memoirs, to the letters of barely-literate soldiers, Figes deftly balances political, military, and social history… The chapters on the war itself are as gripping as an adventure novel… The Crimean War is an evisceration of war, a celebration of scholarship.’

—Boston Globe

‘Fascinating… Narrative history at its best, with patient unfolding of events unknown and forgotten--but that have consequences even today. A thoroughly impressive book.’

—Kirkus, starred review

‘A lucid, thoroughly satisfying, definitive history.’

—Publishers Weekly, starred review

‘Narrated in fearsomely vivid detail and with analytical precision… Figes restores historical significance and human suffering to the conflict.’

—Booklist