Soviet Union History

I’m reading the first volume of Stalin right now by Kotkin. Not an easy read by any means but is supposed to be the premier biography on Stalin. He only uses actual source materials from the Soviet archives.

I think his Magnetic Mountain may be more of an overview of The Soviet Union.

Either way, Kotkin is very interesting. He is the leading historian on the Soviet Union and is a professor at Princeton. But rather than being an apologist for Marxism and Communism, he blasts it. He also looks and sounds just like Joe Pesci. It’s really funny to listen to someone so brilliant talk the way he does.

A People's Tragedy by Orlando Figes (Warning: Almost 1000 pages and only covers 1891 to 1924)

The Russian Revolution by Sheila Fitzpatrick (A more concise volume often used as University textbook on the subject, basically runs from right at the Revolution through the rise of Hitler)

Martin McCauley's Rise and Fall of the Soviet Union is a good summary of the entire period under 1 cover.

Great book, written by a Russian scholar. Looks at policy from the perspective of each premier, from Stalin to Gorbachev. Also through a lens of of the ideological contradiction of a government claiming to support "The revolution" while simultaneously enacting extreme authoritarian acts and seeking an imperialist practical foreign policy.
One of the things I found interesting was how erratic Khrushchev was...and apparently usually drunk.
Another was his take on Brezhnev...actually somewhat positive.
One of the more surprising things was the negative view he takes of Gorbachev. Although less surprising when you think of it. Gorbachev oversaw the collapse of Soviet society and the rapid decline of Russia's international status.

Good read. From an interesting perspective.

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Soviet Union History

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And then, things got worse.

Simon Sebag Montefiore wrote two books that are outstanding.
“Stalin, The Court Of The Red Czar” and
“Young Stalin”
Both of those books are great and Montefiore spent over a decade doing research. He comes from and old Anglo-Jewish family of wealthy bankers. You’ll enjoy both books I’m sure.

just stumbled onto this thread. I grew up in the 80s, and people always talked about the Russians, or the communists, etc., so that part of the world has always sort of fascinated me. Over the years, I've ended up with a small collection of old Soviet artifacts, mostly clocks and cameras, although I do have an old Soviet rotary phone (that still works). Anyway, I look forward to digging into some of the books listed.