This text charts the fractured and violent history of early Rus, covering Slav territories which are not, and do not want to be, part of modern Russia. It explores the development, amongst the diverse peoples of the vast landmass between the Carpathians and the Urals, of a society underpinned by a broadly common culture and eventually a common faith, out of which would emerge the future Russia and its neighbours. The book also describes the emergence of a dominant "state" centred on Kiev and the coming of Christianity to the Slavs. Finally, it shows how the gradual proliferation of new dynastic centres northwards and westwards shifted the power-base of the region into Russi proper, where it would subsequently stay.
