Chasing greatness: on Russia's discursive interaction with the West over the past millennium

<i>Chasing greatness</i> offers a history of the concept of great power in Russian discourses. It focuses on the origins and different understandings of the concept, examining elite perceptions from the sixteenth century onwards, from tsars and politicians to historians and intellectuals. In the book, Anatoly Reshetnikov aims to differentiate the Russian understanding of great power from the European/western definition of the concept. The analysis of the concept builds on a multitude of original sources, which is the biggest strength of the book. It brings together a collection of historiographic works, correspondence, literature, speeches and many other original texts, which makes the book unique. It is full of exciting quotes that help readers grasp the mindset of the contemporaries and their interpretations of reality that they wanted to shape. It also helps to trace the roots of multiple narratives that the Russian elites have repeated throughout different stages of the state's development.<br/>