Чужие и народ. История русских от Рюрика до Путина

"Pozhaluĭ, nigde v mire ne govorili tak mnogo o vrazhdebnom okruzhenii strany, kak v Rossii, - pishet Ėrik Ford, istorik i publit͡sist, mnogo rabot posvi͡ativshiĭ rossiĭskoĭ teme. - So vremen Moskovskogo t͡sarstva i do nashego vremeni zdesʹ vnovʹ i vnovʹ govori͡at o "chuzhikh" i "khishchnikakh", gotovykh rasterzatʹ stranu i unichtozhitʹ ee. Kazhdoe vrazheskoe nashestvie sluzhit dopolnitelʹnym podkrepleniem ėtogo tezisa, kazhdoe vnutrennee potri͡asenie obʺi͡asni͡aetsi͡a vlii͡aniem vrazhdebnykh Rossii sil. V knige, kotorui͡u vy sobiraetesʹ prochitatʹ, sdelana popytka obʺektivno razobratʹsi͡a, kto byli istinnye "chuzhie" i "khishchniki", terzai͡ushchie Rossii͡u". Dli͡a otveta na ėtot vopros avtor ispolʹzuet bolʹshoe kolichestvo faktov, pokazyvaet razlichnye istoricheskie ėpokhi: pered chitatelem predstanut takie gosudarstvennye dei͡ateli, kak Ivan Groznyĭ, Petr I, Ekaterina II, Nikolaĭ I, Nikolaĭ II, Lenin, Stalin i drugie. Tochka zrenii͡a avtora vyzovet, veroi͡atno, opredelennye vozrazhenii͡a u rossiĭskikh chitateleĭ, vedʹ on rassmatrivaet sobytii͡a, iskhodi͡a iz zapadnoĭ paradigmy istoricheskogo razvitii͡a. Ego knigu nelʹzi͡a rassmatrivatʹ kak istinu v posledneĭ instant͡sii, ėto, skoree, material dli͡a polemiki.

"Perhaps nowhere in the world have they talked so much about the hostile environment of the country as in Russia," writes Eric Ford, a historian and publicist who has devoted many works to the Russian topic. – From the time of the Moscow Tsardom to our time, they have been talking about "strangers" and "predators" here again and again, ready to tear apart the country and destroy it. Every enemy invasion serves as an additional reinforcement of this thesis, every internal upheaval is explained by the influence of forces hostile to Russia. In the book that you are going to read, an attempt is made to objectively understand who were the true "strangers" and "predators" tormenting Russia." To answer this question, the author uses a large number of facts, shows various historical epochs: such statesmen as Ivan the Terrible, Peter I, Catherine II, Nicholas I, Nicholas II, Lenin, Stalin and others will appear before the reader. The author's point of view will probably cause certain objections among Russian readers, because he considers events based on the Western paradigm of historical development. His book cannot be regarded as the ultimate truth, it is rather a material for controversy.