A Traveller's History of Russia Book

I've always enjoyed the Traveller's History series. They're meat and vegetable history - nothing spicy, nothing spectacular, just honest, straightforward history. Peter Neville's Russia is much the same.

A pacey look through the highlights of Russian history - Peter the Great, Ivan the Terrible, Catherine all have chapters dedicated to them. There's much more of a focus on the tumultous 20th century, understandably. Each chapter also briefly mentions the artistic, foreign relations and military highlights of the century/era, but nothing substantial.

In the end, it's an easy enough read for traveller's who don't want to wade through a dense history. There's little analysis or editorial in Neville's telling, but I found it lively enough - some of the Traveller's series can be a bit dry. The edition I read was awkwardly updated in some ways. The tense was inconsistent and it was very clear where the editor/writer has gone back to amend some of the chapters.

There's something to be said about accessible histories. I'd like to see the approach to graphic content change though - break out boxes, quirky history facts, highlighted text, etc. I think an approach the mixed Lonely Planet guide book aesthetics (since it is a Traveller's History) mixed with some Horrible History quirkiness would make the series stand out further.