Orlando Figes

Who is Orlando Figes?

Orlando Figes is a British historian on Russia, who was a Lecturer in History and Fellow at Trinity College, University of Cambridge from 1987 to 1999, before taking the Chair as Professor of History at Birkbeck College, University of London. He serves on the editorial board of the journal Russian History, writes for the international press, broadcasts on television and radio, reviews for the New York Review of Books, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

Figes is known for his works on Russian history, in particular A People's Tragedy, Natasha's Dance, The Whisperers, Crimea and Just Send Me Word. A People's Tragedy is a study of the Russian Revolution, and combines social and political history with biographical details in a historical narrative. In 2008 the Times Literary Supplement named A People's Tragedy as one of the 'hundred most influential books since the war'.