The history of Moscow helps explain Russia’s pathologies: Invasion marked the city’s rise from medieval backwater to imperial metropolis

A Kingdom and a Village. By Simon Morrison. Knopf; 528 pages; “Do you love Moscow?” Not long after this reviewer moved there in 2004, he was asked that question by his grizzled landlord. A bit early to know, was his cautious response. “Good,” replied the landlord. “Foreigners who say they love it here soon run back to the airport—with no luggage.” Simon Morrison of Princeton University, a devotee of the carnivorous city since the last days of the Soviet Union, is less equivocal. “Moscow is hard to love,” he acknowledges, “but I love it.” His is a love without illusions,...