A Brief History of the Universalist Society of Hartland, Vermont Book

I rate this "It was OK".

I understand that covering over a thousand years of history in 250 pages is a real challenge. I think the author misses the mark for other reasons.

The chapters on the Tsars often twist in time. Five pages after a Tsar has died, well into a new reign, the book suddenly goes back to the prior Tsar, without any reason or linkage to the new subject.

There is a lack of footnotes (19 for the whole book) which, when the author challenges widely held assumptions, does not lend credence to some of his thoughts.

He discusses Catherine II (the Great) who ruled during the Age of Enlightenment and is credited with some reforms. He states that "Catherine merely paid lip service to the principles of enlightenment" His example is the Pugachev rebellion (1774). But in describing it, he notes that Catherine refused to let Pugachev be tortured, and that he was executed before his body was dismembered (Dismemberment while alive was the punishment for treason). There is ample evidence that she tried, with some successes, to curb some of the army's and nobles excesses.

Other reviewers have noted the tone change in the section on Vladimir Putin. This is an added section in the 2nd edition. Although I wouldn't challenge any of his facts about Putin, it is too editorial a tone for a "history".

Also in need of some editing cleanup. The Organic Staute of 1832 under Nicolas I says: "the kingdom of Poland shall never cease to be an integral part of our empire - and that they shall henceforth form with the Russians one single nation, one fraternal people."

Poland was part of an indivisible Russia, not an "invisible part" as the book reads.