English National Opera Guides are ideal companions to the opera. They provide stimulating introductory articles together with the complete text of each opera in English and the original. This famous opera has had a checkered performance history, and Professor Laurel E. Fay points out that the interpretation of the opera depends on which edition is used. Robert Oldani introduces the “Boris problem”: Pushkin’s play was not an obvious choice for a young composer, since it had been banned for 40 years, and it is the Russian people, rather than any single character, who is the protagonist. Alex de Jonge examines its uniquely Russian character and notes the unsettling parallels of the history of old Russia with today. Nigel Osborne’s comparison of the Rimsky-Korsakov and Mussorgsky versions highlights their individual qualities.