Orlando Figes - Controversy Over Reviews

Controversy Over Reviews

In 2010, Figes posted several pseudonymous reviews on the UK site of the online bookseller Amazon, including some where he criticized books by two other British historians of Russia, Robert Service and Rachel Polonsky, whilst praising his own book. Initially denying responsibility for the reviews, and threatening legal action against those who suggested he was the author, Figes later admitted posting the anonymous reviews, issued an apology and agreed to pay legal costs and damages to Polonsky and Service, who had threatened to sue him for libel. In an interview with the Sunday Times on 3 October 2010, Figes said that the two historians had also threatened to report him to the police for the reviews. In response, Polonsky stated that Figes had engaged in a distortion of facts in his interview with the paper in his account of legal negotiations over the controversy.

In December 2010 Figes told the Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant that Polonsky and Service had used the threat of libel proceedings and made threats against his wife through Carter Ruck (although Polonsky had previously written her an email telling her how much her 'heart went out to her') in an attempt to force him to admit to new legal claims that were untrue. In August 2011 de Volkskrant published Polonsky's letter of response. This stated that nothing in the draft apology proposed by her and Service during the legal correspondence was untrue. The letter further stated that Figes's wife had been included in the correspondence because legal costs had been incurred in the week during which she falsely claimed to be the author of the Amazon reviews.