Below I’ll give you my selections for the best Russia books by a few categories. I will cover these and other great books more in depth later.
1. Lonely Planet Russia (Travel Guide) (2018)
Lonely Planet: The world’s leading travel guide publisher is your passport to the most relevant, up-to-date advice on what to see and skip, and what hidden discoveries await you. Brush up on your Soviet and imperial history in Moscow and St Petersburg, explore European Russia and its gingerbread cottages and golden domes, or lose yourself in the wilds of Siberia and the east; all with your trusted travel companion. Get to the heart of Russia and begin your journey now! our most comprehensive guide to Russia, is perfect for both exploring top sights and taking roads less travelled. Looking for a guide focused on Moscow or St Petersburg?…
2. War with Russia: From Putin & Ukraine to Trump & Russiagate (2019)
America is in a new Cold War with Russia even more dangerous than the one the world barely survived in the twentieth century. The Soviet Union is gone, but the two nuclear superpowers are again locked in political and military confrontations, now from Ukraine to Syria. All of this is exacerbated by Washington’s war-like demonizing of the Kremlin leadership and by Russiagate’s unprecedented allegations. US mainstream media accounts are highly selective and seriously misleading. American “disinformation,” not only Russian, is a growing peril.In…
3. DK Eyewitness Travel Guide Russia (2016)
will lead you straight to the best attractions this diverse country has to offer.From the majestic cities of Moscow and St. Petersburg to the sandy beaches of the Baltic Coast and from the lush Volga Delta to the snowcapped Caucasus Mountains, explore the largest country in Europe. Experience the grandeur of the Kremlin, the Palace Embankment in St. Petersburg, and the historic sights in the Olympic city of Sochi, immerse yourself in the flavors of the local cuisine, and don’t miss out on the world-famous Russian Ballet.Discover . • Detailed itineraries and “don’t-miss” destination…
4. Putin Country: A Journey into the Real Russia (2017)
More than twenty years ago, the NPR correspondent Anne Garrels first visited Chelyabinsk, a gritty military-industrial center a thousand miles east of Moscow. The longtime home of the Soviet nuclear program, the Chelyabinsk region contained beautiful lakes, shuttered factories, mysterious closed cities, and some of the most polluted places on earth. Garrels’s goal was to chart the aftershocks of the U.S.S.R.’s collapse by traveling to Russia’s heartland. Returning again and again, Garrels found that the area’s new freedoms and opportunities were exciting but also traumatic. As the…
5. Russia in the Twentieth Century (6th Edition) (2002)
Widely hailed as the best concise history of Soviet Russia, this book offers balanced coverage of Russia’s history—from last phase of the Tsarist regime to Vladamir Putin’s accession to power in 1999. The new edition of this book explores post-communist Russia with discussions of non-communist parties, the Greek Orthodox Church, Yelstin, Putin, as well as Russia’s development in the twenty-first century. For anyone interested in a complete history of Russia, or businessmen in need of a good reference book….
6. Russian History: A Captivating Guide to the History of Russia, Including Events Such as the Mongol Invasion, the Napoleonic Invasion, Reforms of Peter the Great, the Fall of the Soviet Union, and More (2018)
Russia, or the Russian Federation as it is officially known, is the world’s largest country and covers almost a sixth of the global landmass. The country is often associated with harsh climates and autocratic government. The shadow of communism and the Cold War continues to influence global attitudes towards Russia. This new captivating history book serves as an overview of Russian history over the span of more than a millennium, from the foundation of the Russian state by the Viking prince Rurik in 862 AD until the collapse of the Soviet Union at the end of 1991….
7. Russia: A 1000-Year Chronicle of the Wild East (2013)
As the BBC Moscow correspondent for almost twenty years, Sixsmith tells Russia’s full and fascinating story, from its foundation in the last years of the tenth century to the first years of the twenty-first, skillfully tracing the conundrums of modern Russia to their roots in its troubled past. Covering politics, music, literature and art, he explores the myths Russians have created from their history. Marking the twentieth anniversary of the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Russia is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the complex political landscape of…
8. Russia (Polity Histories) (2019)
Over the past century alone, Russia has lived through great achievements and deepest misery; mass heroism and mass crime; over-blown ambition and near-hopeless despair – always emerging with its sovereignty and its fiercely independent spirit intact. In this book, leading Russia scholar Dmitri Trenin accompanies readers on Russia’s rollercoaster journey from revolution to post-war devastation, perestroika to Putin’s stabilization of post-Communist Russia. Explaining the causes and the meaning of the numerous twists and turns in contemporary Russian history,…
9. America, Russia and the Cold War 1945-2006 (2006)
Using extensive materials from both published and private sources, this concise text focuses on United States-Soviet diplomacy to explain the causes and consequences of the Cold War. It explores how the Cold War was shaped by domestic events in both the U.S. and the Soviet Union and presents a variety of other points of view on the conflict–Chinese, Latin American, European, and Vietnamese. The text includes both engaging anecdotes and quotes from primary sources to support key points and exemplify policies, and recent scholarship and materials from openings of the U.S., Soviet, and Chinese archives….
10. Natasha’s Dance: A Cultural History of Russia (2003)
Beginning in the eighteenth century with the building of St. Petersburg and culminating with the Soviet regime, Figes examines how writers, artists, and musicians grappled with the idea of Russia itself–its character, spiritual essence, and destiny. Skillfully interweaving the great works–by Dostoevsky, Stravinsky, and Chagall–with folk embroidery, peasant songs, religious icons, and all the customs of daily life, Figes reveals the spirit of “Russianness” as rich and uplifting, complex and contradictory–and more lasting than any Russian ruler or state….
11. The Future Is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia (2018)
WINNER OF THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY’S HELEN BERNSTEIN BOOK AWARD NAMED A BEST BOOK OF 2017 BY THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW, LOS ANGELES TIMES, WASHINGTON POST, BOSTON GLOBE, SEATTLE TIMES, CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, NEWSWEEK, PASTE, and POP SUGAR Award-winning journalist Masha Gessen’s understanding of the events and forces that have wracked Russia in recent times is unparalleled. In The Future Is History, Gessen follows the lives of four people born at what promised to be the dawn of democracy. Each of them came of age with unprecedented expectations, some as the children and…
12. Lonely Planet Pocket Moscow & St Petersburg (Travel Guide) (2018)
Lonely Planet: The world’s leading travel guide publisher is your passport to the most relevant, up-to-date advice on what to see and skip, and what hidden discoveries await you. Gawk at Red Square and St Basil’s Cathedral, lose yourself in a performance at the Bolshoi, or be dazzled by the wealth of imperial art at the State Hermitage Museum; all with your trusted travel companion. Get to the heart of Moscow & St Petersburg and begin your journey now! is a handy-sized guide focused on the can’t-miss sights for a quick trip. Need more detail? Check out Lonely Planet’s and for…
13. Nothing Is True and Everything Is Possible: The Surreal Heart of the New Russia (2015)
Professional killers with the souls of artists, would-be theater directors turned Kremlin puppet-masters, suicidal supermodels, Hell’s Angels who hallucinate themselves as holy warriors, and oligarch revolutionaries: welcome to the wild and bizarre heart of twenty-first-century Russia. It is a world erupting with new money and new power, changing so fast it breaks all sense of reality, home to a form of dictatorship-far subtler than twentieth-century strains-that is rapidly rising to challenge the West.When British producer Peter Pomerantsev plunges into the booming Russian…
Best Russia Books That Will Hook You
We highly recommend you to buy all paper or e-books in a legal way, for example, on Amazon. But sometimes it might be a need to dig deeper beyond the shiny book cover. Before making a purchase, you can visit resources like Genesis and download some russia books mentioned below at your own risk. Once again, we do not host any illegal or copyrighted files, but simply give our visitors a choice and hope they will make a wise decision.
The Fate of the Russian Revolution "Lost Texts of Critical Marxism" v.I
Author(s): Sean Matgamna (editor)
Publisher: Phoenix Press, Year: June 1998, Size: 19 Mb, Download: pdf
ID: 2298572
The Compatriots: The Brutal and Chaotic History of Russia’s Exiles, Émigrés, and Agents Abroad
Author(s): Andrei Soldatov, Irina Borogan
Publisher: PublicAffairs, Year: 8 Oct 2019, Size: 4 Mb, Download: epub
ID: 2438058
Behind Putin’s Curtain: Friendships and Misadventures Inside Russia
Author(s): Stephan Orth
Publisher: Greystone Books, Year: 7 May 2019, Size: 6 Mb, Download: epub
ID: 2366618
Kremlin Winter: Russia and the Second Coming of Vladimir Putin
Author(s): Robert Service
Publisher: Picador, Year: 3 Oct 2019, Size: 1 Mb, Download: epub
ID: 2425792
Russia in History: A Concise Survey of Policies
Author(s): Sidney Ploss
Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers, Year: 29 Oct 2019, Size: 2 Mb, Download: epub
ID: 2446272
War with Russia: From Putin and Ukraine To Trump and Russiagate
Author(s): Stephen F. Cohen
Publisher: Hot Books, Year: 27 Nov 2018, Size: 508 Kb, Download: epub
ID: 2301641
The Women’s Revolution: Russia 1905–1917
Author(s): Judy Cox
Publisher: Haymarket Books, Year: 25 Jun 2019, Size: 3 Mb, Download: epub
ID: 2388462
The Penguin History of Modern Russia: From Tsarism to the Twenty-first Century
Author(s): Robert Service
Publisher: Penguin Books, Year: 24 Sept 2015, Size: 6 Mb, Download: epub
ID: 2445742
Russia’s Crony Capitalism: The Path from Market Economy to Kleptocracy
Author(s): Anders Åslund
Publisher: Yale University Press, Year: 23 May 2019, Size: 2 Mb, Download: epub
ID: 2388380
Dirty Rubles: An Introduction to Trump/Russia
Author(s): Greg Olear
Publisher: Four Sticks Press, Year: 23 May 2018, Size: 272 Kb, Download: epub
ID: 2454361
Please note that this booklist is not definite. Some books are truly hot items according to Chicago Tribune, others are composed by unknown writers. On top of that, you can always find additional tutorials and courses on Coursera, Udemy or edX, for example. Are there any other relevant books you could recommend? Drop a comment if you have any feedback on the list.