A History of Russia

Walter Moss's A History of Russia, Volume I: To 1917 was decent. The writing was very clear; the maps, chronology, and genealogy made the book accessible to someone like me who knows little about Russian history and geography. The book also has a nice balance between narrative history, culture, and the everyday life of the Russian people. However, it wasn't as exciting as it could have been, despite the importance of the events it describes. Things did pick up in the last part of the book, which covered the late imperial period from 1855 to 1917.