This eagerly awaited study of Russia under Alexander I, Nicholas I and Alexander II - the Russia of 'War and Peace' and 'Anna Karenina' - brings the series near to completion. David Saunders examines Russia's failure to adapt to the era of reform and democracy ushered into the rest of Europe by the French Revolution. Why, despite so much effort, did it fail? This is a superb book, both as a portrait of an age and as a piece of sustained historical analysis.