The book aims to trace and explain the historical evolution of Moscow, the capital of the Tsardom of Russia, Soviet Union and Russian Federation, as a political entity and political community, and to understand what place Moscow occupied within the Russian political space and what role it played in Russian political life for centuries until 2018. The authors consistently examine the dramatic political history of the contemporary Russian capital in the Moscow (13th - 17th centuries) and St. Petersburg (18th - 19th centuries) epochs, in the Soviet period, in the post-Soviet era, and identify its key points and the most pivotal events.
"This long-awaited work of two well-known Russian academics will be important both among scholars in Russia and abroad. At the same time, there is every reason to believe that it will also arouse great interest among the general public, including foreigners, as they become acquainted with the real Russia. Altogether, this will give the foreign and, above all, Western audiences a new impetus to gaining a serious and balanced understanding of the history and the current politics in Russia." (Marina L. Ivleva, RUDN, Journal of Russian History, Vol. 20 (4), 2021)