Los Angeles Times Book Prize
1 appearances
-
Edition 18 (1997) Winner
Orlando Figes
オーランド・ガイ・ファイジズ
Orlando Guy Figes
Profile
- Gender
- Male
- Born
- 1959-11-20 （Islington, London, England）
- Nationality
- United Kingdom, Germany
- Languages
- English
- Residence History
- London, UK → Umbria, Italy
Career
- Occupations
- Historian, Writer, Academic, Professor
- Active Years
- 1984-2025
- Affiliations
- Trinity College, Cambridge - Fellow (1984–1999), Birkbeck College, University of London - Professor of History (1999–2022), Emeritus Professor (2022–), Editorial board, Russian History (since at least 2011)
- Memberships
- Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature
- Influenced By
- Norman Stone (doctoral advisor), Peter Burke (mentor), Teodor Shanin (influence on peasant studies)
- Influenced
- Andrew Roberts (former student), Tristram Hunt (former student), Bee Wilson (former student), James Harding (former student)
Education
| Institution | Faculty | Department | Degree | Period | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| William Ellis School | — | — | — | 1971–1978 | United Kingdom |
| Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge | Faculty of History | History | BA (double-starred first) | 1978–1982 | United Kingdom |
| Trinity College, Cambridge | — | History | PhD | 1982–1987 | United Kingdom |
William Ellis School
Period:
1971–1978
Year of Graduation:
1978
Country:
United Kingdom
Secondary education in north London.
Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge
Faculty of History
/ History
Degree:
BA (double-starred first)
Period:
1978–1982
Year of Graduation:
1982
Country:
United Kingdom
Studied History, graduated with a double-starred first.
Trinity College, Cambridge
History
Degree:
PhD
Period:
1982–1987
Year of Graduation:
1987
Country:
United Kingdom
PhD on peasant Russia (thesis supervised by Norman Stone).
Awards
| Year | Award | Work | Category | Organization | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | Wolfson History Prize | A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution 1891–1924 | — | Wolfson Foundation | 受賞 |
| 1997 | WH Smith Literary Award | A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution 1891–1924 | — | WH Smith | 受賞 |
| 1997 | NCR Book Award | A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution 1891–1924 | — | NCR | 受賞 |
| 1997 | Longman–History Today Book Prize | A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution 1891–1924 | — | History Today | 受賞 |
| 1997 | Los Angeles Times Book Prize | A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution 1891–1924 | — | Los Angeles Times | 受賞 |
| 2009 | Przeglad Wschodni Award | Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History of Russia | — | Przeglad Wschodni | 受賞 |
| 2021 | Antonio Delgado Prize | The Europeans: Three Lives and the Making of a Cosmopolitan Culture | — | Spain (awarding body) | 受賞 |
| 2023 | Honorary doctorate (Menéndez Pelayo International University) | — | — | Menéndez Pelayo International University | 授与 |
Wolfson History Prize
1997
Work:
A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution 1891–1924
Organization:
Wolfson Foundation
Result:
受賞
WH Smith Literary Award
1997
Work:
A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution 1891–1924
Organization:
WH Smith
Result:
受賞
NCR Book Award
1997
Work:
A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution 1891–1924
Organization:
NCR
Result:
受賞
Longman–History Today Book Prize
1997
Work:
A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution 1891–1924
Organization:
History Today
Result:
受賞
Los Angeles Times Book Prize
1997
Work:
A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution 1891–1924
Organization:
Los Angeles Times
Result:
受賞
Przeglad Wschodni Award
2009
Work:
Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History of Russia
Organization:
Przeglad Wschodni
Result:
受賞
Antonio Delgado Prize
2021
Work:
The Europeans: Three Lives and the Making of a Cosmopolitan Culture
Organization:
Spain (awarding body)
Result:
受賞
Honorary doctorate (Menéndez Pelayo International University)
2023
Organization:
Menéndez Pelayo International University
Result:
授与
Awards & Nominations
Wolfson History Prize
1 appearances
-
Edition 48 (1997) Winner
Works
Major Works
Peasant Russia, Civil War: The Volga Countryside in Revolution, 1917–21
1989 History 320 pagesA detailed study using village soviet archives of peasant politics and social change in the Volga region during the Revolution and Civil War (1917–21).
Rural social historyRevolution and local politics
A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution 1891–1924
1996 History (social and political narrative) 900 pagesA panoramic history of the Russian Revolution from 1891 to Lenin's death in 1924, combining social and political history with biographical narratives.
Revolutionary historyIndividual vs mass actionContingency in politics
Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History of Russia
2002 Cultural history 480 pagesA broad cultural history exploring tensions between European and folk elements in Russian culture through literature, music and the arts.
Culture and identityContact with Europe
The Whisperers: Private Life in Stalin's Russia
2007 Oral history / Social history 636 pagesBased on several hundred private archives and over a thousand interviews collected with Memorial, it examines how Stalinist repression affected private life in the USSR.
Memory and testimonyState repression and everyday life
Adaptations
- [Theatrical (one-man play)] Stalin's Favourite (stage adaptation based on The Whisperers) / Rupert Wickham (performed) (2011)
Crimea: The Last Crusade
2010 Military and diplomatic history 560 pagesA panoramic history of the Crimean War (1853–56) drawing on Russian, French, Ottoman and British archives to examine military, diplomatic and cultural dimensions.
Religion and international politicsFormation of national consciousness
Just Send Me Word: A True Story of Love and Survival in the Gulag
2012 Non-fiction / History 320 pagesBased on 1,246 letters smuggled in and out of the Pechora labour camp, it tells a love story and documents daily life in the Gulag.
Gulag historyPrivate records and public history
The Europeans: Three Lives and the Making of a Cosmopolitan Culture
2019 Cultural history / Biography 432 pagesThrough the lives of Pauline Viardot, Louis Viardot and Ivan Turgenev, it traces the formation of a pan-European cosmopolitan culture in the 19th century.
Cosmopolitan culture19th-century cultural exchange
The Story of Russia
2022 General history 560 pagesA general history of Russia from earliest times to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, examining myths, structural continuities and the sacralisation of power.
Historical mythsState continuities
Bibliography
- Peasant Russia, Civil War: The Volga Countryside in Revolution, 1917–21 (1989)
- A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution 1891–1924 (1996)
- Interpreting the Russian Revolution: The Language and Symbols of 1917 (with Boris Kolonitskii, 1999)
- Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History of Russia (2002)
- The Whisperers: Private Life in Stalin's Russia (2007)
- Crimea: The Last Crusade (2010)
- Just Send Me Word: A True Story of Love and Survival in the Gulag (2012)
- Revolutionary Russia, 1891–1991 (2014)
- The Europeans: Three Lives and the Making of a Cosmopolitan Culture (2019)
- The Story of Russia (2022)
Adaptations
- One-man play 'Stalin's Favourite' based on The Whisperers by Rupert Wickham (performed in London, 2011)
- 'The Oyster Problem' — play by Figes produced at the Jermyn Street Theatre in 2023
- Historical consultant for film/TV (e.g. Anna Karenina (2012), BBC War & Peace (2016))
Translations of Works
- Translated into more than twenty languages (e.g. The Whisperers)
Style & Themes
- Literary Style
- Narrative, person-centred social and political historyEmpirical approach emphasising oral history and archival sources
- Recurring Motifs
- Contrast between personal memory and collective memoryIntersection of power and private life
Legacy
A major influence on the study of Russian history, praised for combining social and political history. He has faced controversies (translation disputes with Russian institutions; the 2010 fake Amazon reviews episode) but remains an influential public historian who has reached wide international audiences through books, broadcasts and lectures.
Academic Societies
- Royal Society of Literature
Archives
- Collections of interviews and family archives deposited with Memorial (Moscow, St Petersburg, Perm)
- Selections of archival materials published on Figes's personal website
In Popular Culture
- Mentioned in wider culture (David Bowie included A People's Tragedy in his top 100 books)
Quotes
-
“I tried to present the revolution not as a march of abstract social forces and ideologies but as a human event of complicated individual tragedies.”
Source: A People's Tragedy (introduction) (1996)
Trivia
- In 2010 he posted pseudonymous Amazon reviews and later apologised and paid damages.
- Materials he collected with Memorial were confiscated by police in St Petersburg in 2008 and later returned.
- He became a German citizen in 2017.
- In February 2024 he was sanctioned by the Russian government with denial of entry.