"Engrossing . . . In a book densely packed with incident, Figes highlights the influence of the press and the brutal casualties that the war produced . . . Could make a hardened war correspondent's blood run cold." --The New Yorker
"Important and impressive . . . it is freshly informed by Russian sources, of which [Figes] is a master. . . . [The Crimean War] admirably narrates the saga in its international and religious setting." --Max Hastings, New York Review of Books
"Meticulously researched . . . Comprehensive and compelling . . . Using a startling array of sources, from government records, news articles, and memoirs, to the letters of barely-literate soldiers, Figes deftly balances political, military, and social history . . . The chapters on the war itself are as gripping as an adventure novel . . . The Crimean War is an evisceration of war, a celebration of scholarship." --Boston Globe
"Fascinating . . . Narrative history at its best, with patient unfolding of events unknown and forgotten--but that have consequences even today. A thoroughly impressive book." --Kirkus, starred review
"A lucid, thoroughly satisfying, definitive history." --Publishers Weekly, starred review
"Narrated in fearsomely vivid detail and with analytical precision . . . Figes restores historical significance and human suffering to the conflict." --Booklist
"A wonderful subject, on every level, and with Orlando Figes it has found the historian worthy of its width and depth." --Norman Stone, Standpoint
"Figes' new work will remind readers of his gifts, keen judgment and mastery of sources." --Max Hastings, The Sunday Times
"This is the only book on the Crimean War anyone could need. It is lucid, well-written, alive and sensitive. Above all, it tells us why this neglected conflict and its forgotten victims deserve our remembrance." --Oliver Bullough, The Independent
"Figes is a first-class historian. . . an excellent guide to the vagaries of the battlefield and the suffering of the ordinary soldiers . . . and the extent to which this was a religious war." --Dominic Sandbrook, The Daily Telegraph
"A fine, stirring account, expertly balancing analysis . . . with an impressive narrative across the vast panoramic sweep of the war." --Mark Bostridge, Financial Times
"Excellent. . . I could not help but marvel at the many parallels with the present." --Anne Applebaum, The Spectator
"A stellar historian. As ever, Figes mixes strong narrative pace, a grand canvas and compelling ideas about current geopolitical tensions." --Tristram Hunt, The Observer
"Entertains as well as enlightens... With its account of combat in the Balkans and conflict in Iran, Afghanistan and Jerusalem, [The Crimean War] makes the modern reader blink with recognition." --Angus Macqueen, The Guardian
"A complex tale, told vividly by Figes." --The Economist