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Books on the Soviet Union

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  1. Gaddis, John Lewis. The Cold War: A New History. New York: Penguin, 2005b.
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  3. Extremely well-written Cold War introductory text by one of its most celebrated and respected scholars. This contribution tends toward a more traditional interpretation of the conflict’s origins and Soviet guilt, but brings a breadth of knowledge and understanding of events and their significance. Read in conjunction with LaFeber 2008 for alternative analysis.
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  5. Keylor, William R. A World of Nations: The International Order since 1945. 2d ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008.
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  7. Well-written, comprehensive, and balanced history of international relations in the Cold War and post–Cold War period. Combines a theoretical, chronological, thematic, and regional approach that will orient new researchers in this often complicated era. Ideal introduction for international-relations scholars.
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  9. LaFeber, Walter. America, Russia, and the Cold War, 1945–2006. 10th ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2008.
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  11. Latest iteration of a long-standing revisionist introduction to Cold War. Tends to place responsibility on the United States and its policies. Especially useful for beginning undergraduates and novice researchers. Read in conjunction with Gaddis 2005b for alternative analysis.
  12. Westad, Odd Arne. The Global Cold War: Third World Interventions and the Making of Our Times. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2007.
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  14. Superb study of third world’s role in Cold War, which illuminates the present as much as the past. Focuses on American and Soviet Cold War strategies in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, including Vietnam, China, Indonesia, Angola, Ethiopia, Cuba, Nicaragua, Iran, and Afghanistan. Extremely important work that reframes our understanding of Cold War diplomacy and its effects.
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  16. Zubok, Vladislav M. A Failed Empire: The Soviet Union in the Cold War from Stalin to Gorbachev. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2007.
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  18. Indispensible study of the Soviet Union and its international relations during the Cold War, as well as Soviet domestic policies. Makes excellent use of recently declassified Russian sources. Future works will invariably complicate its findings, but highly recommended to all Cold War scholars.
  19. Leffler, Melvyn P., and David S. Painter, eds. Origins of the Cold War: An International History. 2d ed. New York: Routledge, 2005.
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  21. Exceptional essay collection devoted to the first few years of the Cold War. Takes a global approach, with emphasis on the international system, as well as geopolitics, trade, strategy, technology, culture, nationalism, and race. Noted international scholars contribute nineteen incisive essays on every conceivable flashpoint during the Truman administration. Highly recommended to all.
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  23. Mastny, Vojtech. The Cold War and Soviet Insecurity: The Stalin Years. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.
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  25. Older but nevertheless useful account of Stalin’s foreign policy during the early Cold War. While its interpretations are and will continue to be challenged as new primary sources become available, it remains an accessible and detailed overview of Soviet motives, perceptions, and mistakes.
  26. Zubok, Vladislav, and Constantine Pleshakov. Inside the Kremlin’s Cold War: From Stalin to Khrushchev. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1996.
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  28. Valuable text for those seeking insights into Soviet policy during the early Cold War by two well-respected Russian scholars. Based on declassified Russian sources, although later releases may complicate its interpretations. International-relations scholars of all levels seeking the Soviet perspective will find it especially useful.
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  32. Fursenko, Aleksandr, and Timothy Naftali. One Hell of a Gamble: Khrushchev, Castro, and Kennedy, 1958–1964. New York: Norton, 1997.
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  34. Fascinating account of the Cuban Missile Crisis, which brings new Soviet sources to light. Brings much-needed balance and new information on Soviet-Cuban relations. Occasionally suffers from a lack of analysis and interpretation, but it remains a stimulating account. Both new students and experienced scholars will find much to consider here.
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  36. Fursenko, Aleksandr, and Timothy Naftali. Khrushchev’s Cold War: The Inside Story of an American Adversary. New York: Norton, 2006.
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  38. Perhaps the best study in print of Khrushchev’s policies from 1955 to 1964. Especially notable for its use of newly available Soviet politburo records. Provides an excellent rendering of the Soviet leader’s often contradictory pursuance of peaceful coexistence and global competition. New undergraduates may need more background, but it is an essential study.
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  40. Lüthi, Lorenz M. The Sino-Soviet Split: Cold War in the Communist World. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2008.
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  42. Incredibly well-researched study of Sino-Soviet relations in the 1950s and 1960s. Based on a remarkable range of archival and documentary sources, including from China and the former Soviet Union. Provides new insight into Sino-Soviet diplomacy and its impact on the Cold War, the Vietnam War, and intrasocialist relations. Recommended to all scholars of Cold War diplomacy and geopolitics.
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  44. Taubman, William. Khrushchev: The Man and His Era. New York: Norton, 2003.
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  46. Extravagantly detailed Pulitzer Prize–winning account of the fascinating Soviet leader’s life. Makes excellent use of former Soviet and Soviet-bloc archives, and represents the best current scholarship on Khrushchev. Despite its length, undergraduates will find its engaging style accessible and enjoyable to read.
  47. Gaiduk, Ilya V. The Soviet Union and the Vietnam War. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 1996.
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  49. Interesting account of Soviet diplomacy during the Vietnam War. Based on admittedly incomplete releases from former Soviet archives, reveals the Soviets were motivated by genuine ideological concerns, but also by a desire to contain Chinese influence. It will likely be superseded, but remains necessary reading for students and scholars of the Soviet role in Vietnam.
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  51. Ouimet, Matthew J. The Rise and Fall of the Brezhnev Doctrine in Soviet Foreign Policy. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2003.
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  53. Study of Soviet policy toward Eastern Europe during the 1970s and 1980s. Sees internal and external pressures on the Soviet Union as early evidence of its impending demise. Experienced scholars will reserve judgment on the conclusions pending new Soviet archival releases, but it remains an intriguing overview of Soviet foreign policy and its relationship to domestic issues.
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  55. Pipes, Richard. U.S.-Soviet Relations in the Era of Détente. Boulder, CO: Westview, 1981.
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  57. Critique of détente by a prominent, hard-line anti-Soviet historian. Consists of critical essays and lectures delivered during the period. Generally sees Soviet observance of détente as an excuse to rearm and prepare for war. Mostly valuable as an example of early neoconservative opposition to détente, and undergraduates should read it with that in mind.
  58. Ouimet, Matthew J. The Rise and Fall of the Brezhnev Doctrine in Soviet Foreign Policy. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2003.
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  60. Reasonably reliable account of Soviet relations with its Eastern European satellites during the Brezhnev era. Places Soviet foreign policy in the context of its decline. Some of its conclusions may be superseded as scholars unearth more archival material from the former Soviet Union and its erstwhile allies. Nevertheless, it is an intriguing study of this period.
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  62. Brown, Archie. Seven Years That Changed the World: Perestroika in Perspective. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007.
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  64. Excellent study of Gorbachev’s efforts to liberalize Soviet society and politics, with many insights into Soviet diplomacy during the second half of the 1980s. Especially interesting since a number of chapters were written contemporaneously with those events. Experienced scholars will find it incisive and rewarding, and new researchers should begin their study of Gorbachev’s role here.
  65. Grachev, Andrei. Gorbachev’s Gamble: Soviet Foreign Policy and the End of the Cold War. Cambridge, UK: Polity, 2008.
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  67. Useful account of Gorbachev’s policies from the perspective of one of his former advisers. Provides good insight into the Soviet side of the Cold War’s end and is especially useful for that reason. Includes a good overview of Gorbachev’s “new
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  71. Weitz, Eric D. A Century of Genocide: Utopias of Race and Nation. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2003.
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  73. A compelling and eloquent narrative of four major genocidal campaigns (Soviet Union, Nazi Germany, Cambodia, and Bosnia), by a leading historian of Germany. As the title suggests, Weitz is primarily concerned with the role of ideational factors as causes of genocide.
  74. Graziosi, Andrea. “The Soviet 1931–1933 Famines and the Ukrainian Holodomor: Is a New Interpretation Possible, and What Would Its Consequences Be?” In Hunger by Design: The Great Ukrainian Famine in Its Soviet Context. Edited by Halyna Hryn, 1–19. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute, 2008.
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  76. The role of man-made disasters, including famine, is insufficiently addressed in genocide studies. Graziosi asks whether the series of famines that wreaked havoc in the USSR during the 1930s can be legitimately considered instances of genocide. He distinguishes interlocking events with great care, revealing a temporal and spatial complexity that sheds new light on the course of what has become known as the Holodomor.
  77. Conquest, Robert. The Great Terror: A Reassessment. New York: Oxford University Press, 1990.
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  79. Focuses on Stalin’s use of mass atrocity and terror to rule the Soviet Union. Rejects arguments explaining such violence through social structure or ideology. Posits that such violence is used to reform society, but the characteristics of the violence are idiosyncratic to each case.
  80. Valentino, Benjamin. Final Solutions: Mass Killing and Genocide in the 20th Century. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2004.
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  82. Defines mass killing broadly. Argues that such violence is strategic and not related to ancient hatred and dysfunctional societies. Instead, mass killing is seen by leaders as the best strategy for ending a perceived threat to their power.
  83. Semelin, Jacques. Purify and Destroy: The Political Uses of Massacre and Genocide. New York: Columbia University Press, 2007.
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  85. An influential, synthetic account by a French political scientist. At the heart of this comprehensive treatment is Semelin’s notion of “delusional rationality,” which he explores in the context of numerous empirical settings.
  86. Edmonds, Robin. The Big Three: Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin in Peace and War. New York: W. W. Norton, 1991.
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  88. Indispensible study of grand-alliance diplomacy among Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin during World War II. Well documented, with sources from the United Kingdom, the United States, Russia, France, and Germany. Detailed overviews of major disputes. Good summaries of the Tehran and Yalta conferences. Undergraduates will profit from its clarity, and experienced researchers will appreciate its depth.
  89. Feis, Herbert. Between War and Peace: The Potsdam Conference. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1960.
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  91. Old but reliable and well-balanced account of grand-alliance diplomacy at the Potsdam Conference. Includes valuable chapters on rising inter-alliance tensions and preconference preparations. Will likely be rendered obsolete by future studies based on Soviet archives, but until that time it remains necessary reading for all scholars of immediate postwar diplomacy.
  92. Read, Anthony, and David Fisher. The Deadly Embrace: Hitler, Stalin, and the Nazi-Soviet Pact, 1939–1941. New York: W. W. Norton, 1988.
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  94. Study of Nazi-Soviet diplomacy, Anglo-German diplomacy, and Anglo-Franco-Soviet diplomacy in the months before Hitler’s invasion of Poland. Based on primary and secondary sources, supplemented by revealing interviews. Occasionally dramatic, but necessary reading for scholars and students of prewar European diplomacy.
  95. Keylor, William R. A World of Nations: The International Order since 1945. 2d ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008.
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  97. Excellent, well-written, and comprehensive history of international relations in the Cold War and post–Cold War periods. Focuses on both state and nonstate actors. Combines chronological, thematic, and regional approaches that will orient new researchers in this often complicated era. Ideal introduction for historians and international-relations scholars alike.
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  99. Wheeler-Bennett, John, and Anthony Nicholls. The Semblance of Peace: The Political Settlement after the Second World War. New York: St. Martin’s, 1972.
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  101. Extremely detailed history of major diplomatic initiatives, conferences, and treaties both during and immediately after World War II. Covers every significant diplomatic agreement and meeting, including the Atlantic Charter, Casablanca, Tehran, Yalta, Potsdam, postwar peace treaties, the Nuremburg trials, and the foundation of the UN. Includes reprints of every major postwar treaty from 1945 through 1956.
  102. Conquest, Robert. The Harvest of Sorrow: Soviet Collectivization and the Terror-Famine. New York: Oxford University Press, 1986.
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  104. A comprehensive study of the Holodomor, with a detailed analysis of Stalin’s policy of famine as rooted in the widespread Marxist-Bolshevik intellectual antipathy toward the peasantry, Ukraine’s agricultural production, and Moscow’s policy of intentionally destroying the Ukrainian economy as an antinational measure. According to Conquest’s calculations, seven million died as a result of the 1932–1933 famine: five million in Ukraine, one million in the North Caucasus, and one million “elsewhere” (p. 306).
  105. Conquest, Robert. The Harvest of Sorrow: Soviet Collectivization and the Terror-Famine. New York: Oxford University Press, 1986.
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  107. A comprehensive study of the Holodomor, with a detailed analysis of Stalin’s policy of famine as rooted in the widespread Marxist-Bolshevik intellectual antipathy toward the peasantry, Ukraine’s agricultural production, and Moscow’s policy of intentionally destroying the Ukrainian economy as an antinational measure. According to Conquest’s calculations, seven million died as a result of the 1932–1933 famine: five million in Ukraine, one million in the North Caucasus, and one million “elsewhere” (p. 306).
  108. Dolot, Miron. Execution by Hunger: The Hidden Holocaust. New York: Norton, 1985.
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  110. Offers a firsthand account of the hardship experienced by Ukrainians as a result of the famine. Maintains that Stalin and the Soviet government in Moscow were hostile toward Ukrainian peasants.
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  112. Graziosi, Andrea. Stalinism, Collectivization and the Great Famine. Holodomor. Cambridge, MA: Ukrainian Studies Fund, 2009.
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  114. Addresses the controversy concerning interpretations of the Ukrainian famine in 1932–1933 and contends that the Holodomor constitutes genocide. The ideology of the Bolshevik leaders and their brutal approach in dealing with peasants led to deterioration in state–peasant relations, which the Stalinist regime used to destroy the Ukrainian nationalist movement.
  115. Oleskiw, Stephen. The Agony of a Nation: The Great Man-Made Famine in Ukraine, 1932–1933. London: National Committee to Commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the Artificial Famine in Ukraine 1932–1933, 1983.
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  117. Provides a brief history of the Soviet Ukraine and identifies various ideological, social, and economic reasons for the famine. Above all, the Stalinist regime was determined to eradicate Ukrainian national identity.
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  119. Barghoorn, Frederick. The Soviet Cultural Offensive. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1960.
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  121. A classic Cold War–era text. Barghoorn examines the broad spectrum of Soviet cultural practices that were designed to promote the Soviet Union abroad. He unpacks the detailed history of Soviet cultural diplomacy and explores ways in which the West could “resist” this diplomacy.
  122. Brown, Archie. The Rise and Fall of Communism. New York: Ecco, 2009.
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  124. A comprehensive survey from one of the most astute, balanced, and thoughtful commentators on the Communist systems. This is an approach rooted in political science rather than history; nevertheless, this volume synthesizes a great deal of detail with sharp analyses and interesting reflections.
  125. Holmes, Leslie. Communism: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.
  126. DOI: 10.1093/actrade/9780199551545.001.0001Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  127. Holmes deals with the rise and fall of Communism. Useful analysis with some interesting tables and data.
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  129. Pipes, Richard. Communism. London: Phoenix, 2002.
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  131. Another short introduction by one of the main figures in the anti-Communist school of Cold War writers. Explicitly anti-Soviet and anti-Communist. Contains chapters on Communism’s reception in the West and in the Third World.
  132. Sandle, Mark. Communism. 2d ed. Harlow, UK: Pearson: 2012.
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  134. A short text that outlines the long evolution of Communism as an idea and in practice. Contains documents, timeline, further reading. Focus is mainly on the 20th century but does examine Communism as a global phenomenon.
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  136. Furet, Francois. The Passing of an Illusion. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999.
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  138. Another approach that focuses on the idea and ideas of Communism. Focuses on the Soviet experience but deals in detail with Communism’s relationship with fascism and antifascism. Most notable, however, is Furet’s attempt to grapple with the question of why Communism exerted such a strong pull on the imagination of Western intellectuals. Furet argues that its proclamation of embodying a society beyond democratic capitalism and its centrality to the cause of antifascism in the 1930s and 1940s were central to its attraction.
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  140. Garthoff, Raymond L. The Great Transition: American-Soviet Relations and the End of the Cold War. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution, 1994.
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  142. A detailed appraisal of the final years of the Cold War. Garthoff argues that Gorbachev was the crucial agent in bringing about the end of the Cold War.
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  144. Hammond, Thomas T. The Anatomy of Communist Takeovers. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1975.
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  146. A wide-ranging collection of essays dealing with Communist takeovers across the globe, from 1917 right through to the 1960s. Excellent geographical coverage.
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  148. Mosely, Philip E. The Kremlin and World Politics. New York: Vintage, 1960.
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  150. A classic Cold War account, this highlights the relationship between Soviet policy and action. A collection of essays dealing with the period between 1941 and 1959.
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  152. Carr, Edward Hallett. The Twilight of Comintern 1930–35. New York: Pantheon, 1982.
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  154. A highly detailed account from the author of the monumental fourteen-volume history of Soviet Russia. Extensive coverage of developments in Moscow and the evolution of Comintern itself, and also the relationships with the Communist parties in Europe and Asia in this period. Based on official Comintern sources, the focus is top-down and organizational, with little room for the workers in this narrative or indeed the sources from the local parties themselves.
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  156. Dallin, Alexander, and Fridrikh I. Firsov, eds. Dimitrov and Stalin: Letters from the Soviet Archives. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2000.
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  158. An interesting addition to the literature arising out of the opening up of the archives. Adds color and texture to the history of Comintern and conveys some of the personal/relational aspects. Also focuses on the ambiguities and uncertainties of Comintern decision making, which is often absent from accounts that focus on the broader political and ideological issues.
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  160. Hallas, Duncan. The Comintern: A History of the Third International. London: Bookmarks, 1985.
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  162. Adopting a neo-Trotskyite approach, this text explores the linkages between the actions of the Third Communist International, and the “degeneration” of the 1917 revolution. Hallas notes that after 1923 (seen as the “turning point”) the Comintern moved away from being internationalist, anti-imperialist, and a part of the worldwide struggle of the proletariat; it became an instrument of nationalism, class collaboration, and opposition to the anticolonial struggle. Stalin in effect destroyed the whole international revolution.
  163. McDermott, K., and J. Agnew. The Comintern: A History of International Communism from Lenin to Stalin. Houndsmills, UK: Macmillan, 1996.
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  165. An important post–Cold War post-Communist work that is explicitly historiographical in its approach. Probably the best place to start for an overview of the history of Comintern and of the disputes in the historiography. Examines both Russian and Western sources and includes important documentary material.
  166. Worley, Matthew. In Search of Revolution: International CPs in the Third Period. New York: I. B. Tauris, 2004.
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  168. Focuses on the third period (1928–1935) and argues that the viewpoint that this era (particularly the policy of social fascism) was a disaster for international Communism, and the Comintern is an oversimplification. Details the policies of Communist parties in United States, UK, Germany, Italy, France, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and elsewhere. Stresses the importance of comparative analysis for understanding the dynamics of Comintern policy at this time.
  169. Claudin, Fernando. The Communist Movement: From Comintern to Cominform. New York: Monthly Review, 1975.
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  171. A former Spanish Communist and dissident Marxist who writes forcefully and originally on the nature and activities of the Comintern. Although he tends to somewhat overstate the amount of control exercised by Moscow over the satellites, this is a compelling and sophisticated account.
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  173. Jersild, Austin. The Sino-Soviet Alliance. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2014.
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  175. Part of the New Cold War History series, this monograph explores in detail the complex relationship between the USSR and China after 1949. It makes extensive use of archival sources from both the Chinese and the Soviet perspective.
  176. Bronke, Adam, and Philip E. Uren. The Communist States and the West. New York: Praeger, 1967.
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  178. A highly detailed examination of the impact of the Sino-Soviet split and the emergence of polycentrism in the Soviet bloc upon East-West relations. Argues that the East and West co-exist in a symbiotic relationship: as one weakens so does its rival and vice versa.
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  180. Shulman, Marshall D. Stalin’s Foreign Policy Reappraised. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1963.
  181. DOI: 10.4159/harvard.9780674424067Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  182. Shulman examines the late Stalin period, and in particular focuses upon the Soviet use of the peace movement as a central part of its foreign policy approach to dealings with western Europe.
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  185. Faringdon, Hugh. Confrontation: The Strategic Geography of NATO and the Warsaw Pact. London: Routledge, 1986.
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  187. An analysis of the strategic balance of power in Europe and of the role of the Warsaw Pact, focusing upon the idea of military geography and zones of confrontation.
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  189. Garthoff, Raymond. Deterrence and the Revolution in Soviet Military Doctrine. Washington, DC: Brookings Institute, 1990.
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  191. An overview of Soviet military doctrine after 1945, with particular emphasis on two phases: 1945–1985 and 1985 onward. Focuses upon the idea of deterrence and its role in Soviet foreign and military policy.
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  193. Glantz, David. The Military Strategy of the Soviet Union. London: Frank Cass, 1992.
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  195. Useful narrative overview of Soviet military strategy from 1917 through to 1985.
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  197. Grau, Lester, and Michael Gress. The Soviet-Afghan War: How a Superpower Fought and Lost. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2002.
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  199. An invaluable source based on a translation of the Soviet general staff’s report about the war.
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  201. Kokoshin, Andrei A. Soviet Strategic Thought 1917–91. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1998.
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  203. A survey of the evolution of Soviet thinking on strategic and military affairs from the revolution to the collapse of the USSR.
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  205. Lewis, William J. The Warsaw Pact: Arms, Doctrine and Strategy. Cambridge, MA: Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis, 1982.
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  207. A highly detailed and technical overview of all aspects of the operations of the Warsaw Pact forces, including tactics and doctrines.
  208. Bellamy, Chris. Absolute War: Soviet Russia in the Second World War. New York: Knopf, 2007.
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  210. Complete one-volume history of the Soviet Union in World War II, utilizing newly available documents (see Collections of Russian Documents). Examines Russia in World War II as a whole, not just the 1941–1945 era. Also analyzes the politics and inner workings of the uneasy Alliance with the UK and US grand strategy and the influence on postwar politics.
  211. Erickson, John. Stalin’s War with Germany. Vol. 1, The Road to Stalingrad. London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 1975.
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  213. Unsurpassed in detail, sometimes graphic, covers the period when the Germans overran the western Soviet Union and advanced to the Volga. This was the first history of the 1941–1945 war to use Soviet rather than predominantly German sources.
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  215. Erickson, John. Stalin’s War with Germany. Vol. 2, The Road to Berlin. London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 1983.
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  217. In the same style as Erickson 1975, the definitive account of the Soviet retaliation, which took the Red Army to Berlin. Ends abruptly with the Prague operation, without analyzing the social and economic effects of the war on the Soviet Union.
  218. Krivosheyev, Grigoriy F. Soviet Casualties and Combat Losses in the Twentieth Century. London: Lionel Leventhal, 1997.
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  220. Translation of Krivosheyev 1993 (see General Overviews in Russian). The most reliable survey available of Soviet losses, with scientific definition of how these losses are calculated. Some of Krivosheyev’s figures have been challenged, but this is accepted as the definitive source and also enumerates most of the major Soviet operations.
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  222. Mawdsley, Evan. Thunder in the East: The Nazi-Soviet War 1941–45. London: Hodder, 2005.
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  224. Concise history of the Soviet-German war, embracing higher-level military, economic, and political issues. Notes the importance of all factors: military, economic, and demographic. Best introduction for undergraduates and beginning postgraduates.
  225. Berezhkov, Valentin. At Stalin’s Side: His Interpreter’s Memoirs from the October Revolution to the Fall of the Dictator’s Empire. New York: Birch Lane, 1994.
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  227. Berezhkov translated for Stalin on just a few occasions, and thus the book’s title is a touch misleading. However, the account of life as a privileged young diplomat in the Soviet Union and Germany is entertaining and provides some unique snapshots that Berezhkov could not have made up. It is the source for Stalin’s trenchant comment when Berlin was captured: “Tsar Alexander got as far as Paris” (p. 310).
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  229. Koniev, Ivan. Year of Victory. Moscow, Soviet Union: Progress, 1969.
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  231. Translation of Sorok pyaty (“Forty-Five”) published by the USSR Ministry of Defence the same year. Record of the final year of the war by Zhukov’s greatest rival, who raced Zhukov for Berlin. Stalin pitted these men against each other, and the differences in character are intriguing. Zhukov waited to attack Berlin in a clay bunker; Koniev waited in a castle.
  232. Merridale, Catherine. Ivan’s War: Life and Death in the Red Army 1939–1945. New York: Metropolitan, 2006.
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  234. Funded by the United Kingdom’s Leverhulme Research Council, this book combines archival research with interviews with more than two hundred survivors of the Soviet Union’s conflicts during World War II. As well as being well researched, it is probably the last major investigative oral history as spoken by veterans of the period. Originally published in 2005.
  235. Find this resource:
  236. Rokossovsky, Konstantin. A Soldier’s Duty. Moscow, Soviet Union: Progress, 1985.
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  238. Abridged translation of Rokossovskiy 2002 (see Memoirs in Russian). Still worthwhile for its account of life in Imperial Russia and the Soviet Union. Also reveals the highly perceptive intellect of Soviet Russia’s most gifted commander—arguably more talented than Zhukov—of World War II.
  239. Find this resource:
  240. Zhukov, Georgiy K. The Memoirs of Marshal Zhukov. London: Jonathan Cape, 1971.
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  242. Translated memoirs of the Soviet Union’s top military commander and Stalin’s deputy (see Zhukov 2002 under Memoirs in Russian). Recollections of service in the Imperial Russian Army and the Russian Civil War make this a rounded account by a very shrewd (and utterly ruthless) senior commander. But some very significant things are left out. See Operations Not in the Soviet Histories.
  243. Gilbert, Martin, and Arthur Banks. Soviet History Atlas. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1979.
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  245. Very clear, simple, black-and-white maps showing the political and broader military geography of the war. There is a useful map of Soviet industry and Allied aid that clearly shows how much Soviet industry had already been moved eastward, out of range of German attack.
  246. Find this resource:
  247. Keegan, John, ed. The Times Atlas of the Second World War. London: Times, 1989.
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  249. Brilliant if slightly eccentric portrayal of all the main theaters of World War II, with concise supporting text and a very full glossary giving biographies of key figures. There are twenty-three double-page spreads relating specifically to the Soviet Union’s campaigns, starting with Poland and Finland (Scandinavia), and there are another five that are relevant to the Soviet Union on, for example, resistance in eastern Europe and politics and strategy.
  250. Anusauskas, Arvydas, ed. The Anti-Soviet Resistance in the Baltic States. Vilnius, Lithuania: Genocide and Resistance Research Centre of Lithuania, Du Ka, 1999.
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  252. Fascinating and groundbreaking analysis showing that after the Soviet annexation in 1940, resistance movements were coalescing in the three Baltic States, particularly after Soviet deportations started. The moment the Germans attacked the Soviet Union, the resistance movements went into action, and when the Germans reached objectives they sometimes found that these objectives had already been seized by the resistance.
  253.  
  254. Fitzgibbon, Louis. The Katyn Massacre: The Shocking Truth behind the World’s Worst Unjudged Mass Murder. London: Corgi, 1979.
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  256. After occupying eastern Poland, the Soviet security troops (NKVD) rounded up and interned Polish officers and professional men in three camps. Those at Kozel’sk were taken to Katyn, and 4,253 of them were shot. The Germans found the mass graves but were initially blamed by the Allies, although the Soviet Union had occupied the territory at the time. Eventually the truth emerged, and this 1979 book is the account.
  257. Van Dyke, Carl. The Soviet Invasion of Finland 1939–40. London and Portland, OR: Frank Cass, 2001.
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  259. Definitive study of the Soviet campaign that, in addition to documenting the Winter War, provides a persuasive argument as to why Soviet military performance increased dramatically three years later, when the reforms introduced as a result took effect.
  260. Gorodetsky, Gabriel. Grand Delusion: Stalin and the German Invasion of Russia. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1999.
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  262. Gorodetsky challenges the Suvorov 1990 thesis that Stalin was about to attack Germany when it attacked him, citing Soviet foreign ministry, armed forces, and security services files. Instead, he says Stalin was trying to renegotiate the European order. Suvorov and his supporters retaliated by accusing Gorodetsky of being a conduit for Russian denial of any aggressive intent by Stalin and questioning how he got access to such sensitive documents.
  263. Pleshakov, Konstantin. Stalin’s Folly: The Secret History of the German Invasion of Russia, June 1941. London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 2005.
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  265. Highly convincing and authoritative consideration of all the debates on German and Soviet intent as well as the timings.
  266. Find this resource:
  267. Suvorov, Viktor. Icebreaker: Who Started the Second World War? London: Hamish Hamilton, 1990.
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  269. Suvorov’s book created great interest and attracted enormous criticism. His thesis is that Stalin deliberately made the 23 August 1939 agreement with Hitler to enable the Nazi dictator to fight the British and French, while Stalin covertly prepared to attack Germany and then, perhaps, move on to the Channel. Suvorov says that Stalin was planning to carry out that attack in 1941.
  270. Braithwaite, Rodric. Moscow 1941: A City and Its People at War. London: Profile, 2007.
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  272. Masterly combination of politics, strategy, and military and social history, by the former British Ambassador to Russia. Braithwaite also gets inside the contradictions that characterized Stalin and how he understood what motivated the Russian people.
  273. Find this resource:
  274. Glantz, David. Barbarossa: Hitler’s Invasion of Russia 1941. Stroud, UK: Tempus, 1991.
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  276. Complete treatment by the preeminent analyst of the military aspects of the opening phases of the Soviet-German war.
  277. Find this resource:
  278. Sebag Montefiore, Simon. Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar. New York: Knopf, 2004.
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  280. Although the order to evacuate foreign embassies and key personnel was given on 15 October 1941, Stalin remained in the capital. This readable account of Stalin’s “court” is especially valuable in its analysis of the early phases of the war and the October crisis and “panic.”
  281.  
  282. Salisbury, Harrison E. The 900 Days: The Siege of Leningrad. London: Pan, 2000.
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  284. Banned in the Soviet Union because it allegedly criticized the role of the Communist Party as well as some of the people involved who were still prominent in politics. It also contained reports of cannibalism that the documents in Lomagin 2002 have confirmed (see Collections of Russian Documents), analyzed in Bellamy 2007 (under General Overviews in English). Salisbury combines all the aspects of Russia’s war effort in a classic way that need not be replicated. First published in 1969.
  285. Glantz, David. The Siege of Leningrad 1941–44: 900 Days of Terror. London: Cassell, 2004.
  286. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  287. Useful supplement to Salisbury 2000 on logistics, supply, and statistics.
  288.  
  289. Werth, Alexander. Leningrad. London: Hamish Hamilton, 1944.
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  291. Werth was writing a book on Russia and World War II but decided to publish this account in the year the siege was finally lifted. He had been born in the city and was the only British correspondent there, working for the BBC, during the siege. His BBC credentials gained him remarkable access, and he was also a native Russian speaker.
  292.  
  293. Beevor, Anthony. Stalingrad. London: Viking, 1998.
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  295. Combines new research with graphic narrative, drama, and exploration of the depths of cruelty and barbarism to which human beings can descend. Brilliantly reviewed, this book is the core history of the battle.
  296. Find this resource:
  297. Craig, William A. Enemy at the Gates: The Battle for Stalingrad. London: Penguin, 1973.
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  299. Well-researched and graphic account of the battle. Craig spent five years researching it, although much new material has become available since. He interviewed Tanya Chernova, the Soviet woman sniper, which was the origin of the story of the “duel” between Zaytsev and the head of the German sniper school. This story has been largely dismissed, but it is a minor flaw in an otherwise sound book.
  300. Find this resource:
  301.  
  302. Carr, Edward Hallett. A History of Soviet Russia: The Bolshevik Revolution, 1917–1923. 3 vols. London: Macmillan, 1950–1953.
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  304. The first three volumes of a series that, first under Carr and then R. W. Davies, eventually totaled fourteen volumes and thousands of pages upon reaching its terminus in 1929. Some scholars argue these volumes constitute a classic work; others, largely because Carr writes as if the Bolshevik regime was the inevitable outcome of the revolution that ended the tsarist regime, dismiss them as an apologia for Bolshevism and therefore largely useless.
  305. Find this resource:
  306. Chamberlin, William Henry. The Russian Revolution, 1917–1921. 2 vols. New York: Grosset and Dunlap, 1965.
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  308. Originally published in 1935, this work remains an extremely valuable source. The author, who covered Russia for the Christian Science Monitor from 1922 to 1933, was a skilled writer, objective observer, and careful researcher. Many specialists believe it has still not been surpassed as an overall history of the period. Volume 1, 1917–1918: From the Overthrow of the Czar to the Assumption of Power by the Bolsheviks. Volume 2, 1918–1921: From the Civil War to the Consolidation of Power.
  309. Find this resource:
  310. Figes, Orlando. A People’s Tragedy: The Russian Revolution, 1891–1924. New York: Penguin, 1998.
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  312. A panoramic narrative that draws on recently opened archives and numerous anecdotes with great effect. Figes argues, on the one hand, that Russia’s long history of serfdom and its autocratic traditions doomed the 1917 effort to establish a democratic regime and, on the other, that it was the Bolshevism and Lenin’s policies after the seizure of power that put in place the basic elements of the Stalinist regime.
  313. Find this resource:
  314. Fitzpatrick, Sheila. The Russian Revolution, 1917–1932. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1982.
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  316. A thematic essay rather than a narrative history by the doyenne of revisionist social history. Fitzpatrick views the events of 1917–1932 as a “single process” in which Stalin’s program of industrialization and collectivization, with mass working-class support and through brute force, completed and fulfilled Lenin’s revolution. The overall revolution is summarized as “terror, progress, and social mobility.” Slightly less than a third of the book deals with the 1917–1921 period. Crafted for use in college-level courses.
  317. Find this resource:
  318. Pipes, Richard. A Concise History of the Russian Revolution. New York: Vintage, 1996.
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  320. The author calls this volume a “précis” of his two massive, path-breaking earlier volumes, The Russian Revolution (Pipes 1990, under The October Revolution and the Establishment of the Bolshevik Regime) and Russia Under the Bolshevik Regime (Pipes 1993, under The Civil War and Its Immediate Aftermath). Pipes argues that with the coup of October 1917 fanatical intellectuals seized control of the upheaval of 1917 intent on establishing a socialist utopia, but in the end they reconstituted Russia’s authoritarian tradition in a new regime that laid the basis for totalitarianism. Excellent for advanced undergraduates, this volume covers the period from 1900 to 1924.
  321. Find this resource:
  322. Read, Christopher. From Tsar to Soviets: The Russian People and Their Revolution. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.
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  324. A comprehensive but reasonably concise (three hundred pages) overview written from a revisionist social history perspective. As the subtitle suggests, Read stresses the activities and efforts of workers and peasants to defend their interests. While sympathetic to Lenin, Read also is critical of the Bolsheviks for suppressing popular movements after seizing power. Includes an extensive bibliography, which increases its value to undergraduates and graduate students.
  325. Find this resource:
  326. Schapiro, Leonard Bertram. The Russian Revolutions of 1917: The Origins of Modern Communism. New York: Basic Books, 1984.
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  328. Schapiro argues that the Bolsheviks ruthlessly sabotaged the Provisional Government’s effort to lay the basis for democracy in Russia and, having seized power in a coup d’état, laid the basis for a totalitarian regime. A concise account that sums up the lifetime work of a distinguished historian of Soviet Russia. Excellent for undergraduates.
  329. Find this resource:
  330. Shukman, Harold. The Russian Revolution. Stroud, UK: Sutton, 1998.
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  332. A short but up-to-date survey by the editor of The Blackwell Encyclopedia of the Russian Revolution (Shukman 1988, cited under Bibliographies and Reference Works). This work concludes that Lenin prepared the way for Stalin. Suitable for undergraduates.
  333.  
  334. Curtis, John Shelton. The Russian Revolutions of 1917. New York: Van Nostrand, 1957.
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  336. A concise narrative of about one hundred pages and forty documents together cover the period from the beginning of World War I through the collapse of the monarchy, the February and October revolutions, and the Treaty of Brest Litovsk of March 1918.
  337. Find this resource:
  338. Kowalski, Ronald. The Russian Revolution: 1917–1921. Russian Sources in History. Edited by David Welch. London and New York: Routledge, 1997.
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  340. A textbook with an interesting format in which the author’s commentary and primary source documents are integrated into a single narrative. A historiography of the revolution serves as an introduction. The author is sympathetic to the revisionist approach to the revolution, claiming that the October Revolution was accepted by most ordinary citizens. However, he also argues that the Bolsheviks lost legitimacy by clinging to power by dictatorial means and that the foundations of Stalinism had been laid by 1921. Includes an extensive bibliography.
  341. Find this resource:
  342. Pipes, Richard. Three “Whys” of the Russian Revolution. New York: Vintage, 1995.
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  344. A short, provocative, and illuminating introduction to the subject that in about eighty pages asks and answers three key questions: “Why did Tsarism fall?” “Why did the Bolsheviks triumph?” and “Why did Stalin succeed Lenin?” See General Overviews for a synopsis of how Pipes views the revolution.
  345. Find this resource:
  346. Thompson, John M. Revolutionary Russia, 1917. New York: Charles Scribner’s, 1981.
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  348. A clear and concise overview of the events of 1917, culminating with the forcible dispersal of the Constituent Assembly and the Treaty of Brest Litovsk. Thompson argues that there is a significant link between the Bolshevik coup and the Party’s subsequent efforts to retain power and the resultant dictatorial Soviet state and society that emerged from the revolution.
  349. Find this resource:
  350. Wade, Rex A. The Russian Revolution, 1917. 2d ed. New Approaches to European History. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2005.
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  352. A comprehensive overview of events from February 1917 to January 1918 and the forcible dispersion of the Constituent Assembly. Following the revisionist social historians, Wade argues that the Bolsheviks had significant support when they seized power in October in the name of “Soviet power.” However, he adds that their determination to rule alone, made clear when the Constituent Assembly was dispersed by force, marked the end of the revolution and set Russia on the road to civil war and dictatorship.
  353.  
  354. Le Blanc, Paul. Lenin and the Revolutionary Party. Atlantic Highlands, NJ: Humanities Press, 1990.
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  356. Although worshipful of Lenin from a Trotskyite perspective and devoted to proving that Lenin really was a revolutionary committed to socialism “from below” whose democratic vision was betrayed by Stalin, this volume nonetheless can be a useful guide to many of Lenin’s ideas.
  357. Find this resource:
  358. Meyer, Alfred G. Leninism. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1957.
  359. DOI: 10.4159/harvard.9780674186637Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  360. An excellent scholarly introduction to the subject that has retained its value to undergraduates, graduate students, and specialists. It is extremely thorough and clear on a number of theoretical points that are often misunderstood.
  361. Find this resource:
  362. Ryan, James. Lenin’s Terror: The Ideological Origins of Early Soviet State Violence. London: Routledge, 2012.
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  364. Ryan provides a comprehensive overview of Lenin’s thinking on political violence from the 1890s through 1923 and a study of his practice of violence as the leader of the Soviet state after 1917. The author argues that Lenin was the first major Marxist thinker to give violence such a prominent role as a revolutionary instrument. While not glorifying violence, Lenin emphatically justified it in principle and used it as he felt circumstances required in the struggle to acquire power and then build socialism.
  365.  
  366.  
  367. Service, Robert W. Lenin: A Political Life. Vol. 1, The Strengths of Contradiction. Basingstoke, UK: Macmillan, 1985.
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  369. Continued in Volume 2, Worlds in Collision (Basingstoke, UK, 1991), and Volume 3, The Iron Ring (Basingstoke, UK: Macmillan, 1995). The most thorough overview of Lenin’s life and political career. Volume 1 covers from Lenin’s birth in 1879 to 1910, Volume 2 covers from 1910 to early 1918, and Volume 3 covers the rest of Lenin’s life.
  370. Find this resource:
  371. Service, Robert. Lenin: A Biography. Cambridge, MA: Belknap, 2000.
  372. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  373. Although this volume takes advantage of documents that were not available before 1991, most of the new material concerns Lenin’s personal life rather than his political activities.
  374.  
  375. Ulam, Adam B. The Bolsheviks: The Intellectual and Political History of the Triumph of Communism in Russia. New York: Collier, 1988.
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  377. A seminal work that remains one of the most highly regarded studies of Lenin and Bolshevism. Slightly less than 20 percent of the book (about 130 pages) deals with the period from February 1917 until the end of the civil war.
  378. Find this resource:
  379. Volkogonov, Dmitri. Lenin: A New Biography. Translated and edited by Harold Shukman. New York: Free Press, 1994.
  380. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  381. One of the first biographies of Lenin to take advantage of archives that were closed to historians prior to 1991. About a third of this important, groundbreaking work (more than 140 pages) deals with the events of 1917 and the civil war, and reveals a Lenin more ruthless and brutal than portrayed by earlier biographers. The English translation is condensed from the two-volume Russian version, Lenin: Politicheskii Portret v dvukh knigakh Lenin: A Political Portrait in two volumes (Moscow: Novosti, 1994). Volkogonov was an army general before becoming a professional historian. After the fall of the Soviet Union he served as Boris Yeltsin’s military advisor.
  382. Lincoln, W. Bruce. Red Victory: A History of the Russian Civil War. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1989.
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  384. Lincoln is known for his ability to combine scholarly research with outstanding writing that appeals to a wide general audience. This massive (more than six hundred pages) overview of the civil war is another example of his skills. In the end, Lincoln attributes the Bolshevik victory to their ability to make the most of their resources and opportunities, in contrast to the Whites, who squandered theirs.
  385.  
  386. Mawdsley, Evan. The Russian Civil War. New York: Pegasus, 2005.
  387. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  388. This well written and up-to-date volume draws on a wide range of primary sources and the work of other historians. While there is interesting detail, there are no striking new conclusions. Mawdsley concludes that the key reasons the Bolsheviks won were their control of the center of the country and its resources, and a result of the divisions among their opponents. Good for undergraduates and general readers.
  389. Find this resource:
  390. Pipes, Richard. Russia under the Bolshevik Regime. New York: Knopf, 1993.
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  392. Pipes carries the story he began in The Russian Revolution (Pipes 1990, cited under The October Revolution and the Establishment of the Bolshevik Regime) through the civil war and Lenin’s death in 1924. He stresses that the Bolsheviks survived with a combination of brutal repression and, once the civil war was won, concessions in the form of the New Economic Policy. Pipes also argues that by the time of Lenin’s death most of the foundations of Stalinism were in place.
  393. Find this resource:
  394. Swain, Geoffrey. Russia’s Civil War. Stroud, UK: Tempus, 2000.
  395. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  396. This overview of the civil war stresses the role and importance of armed resistance by peasant groups and the Socialist Revolutionaries to the Bolshevik regime.
  397.  
  398. Gerschenkron, Alexander. Continuity in History, and Other Essays. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1968.
  399. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  400. Gerschenkron asserts that industrialization followed certain linear stages of development, although backward countries could skip some stages by adopting the latest technology. This, he suggests, was demonstrated in the cases of the Soviet Union and Meiji Japan.
  401.  
  402. Callinicos, Alex. Trotskyism. Milton Keynes, UK: Open University Press, 1990.
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  404. Student-friendly introduction. Includes discussion of the theories of “permanent revolution” and “state capitalism.” Also available online.
  405. Find this resource:
  406. Claudín, Fernando. The Communist Movement: From Comintern to Cominform. Translated by Brian Pearce and Francis MacDonagh. Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin, 1975.
  407. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  408. Comprehensive chronicle of the Stalinization of the communist movement by a leading member of the Spanish Communist Party.
  409.  
  410. Trotsky, Leon. History of the Russian Revolution. New York: Pathfinder, 1971.
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  412. Trotsky’s magnum opus. In essence, a detailed historical account of the 1917 revolutions, but the discussion of their causation contains seminal thoughts on “uneven and combined development”: how Russia’s economic backwardness relates to the nature of the international system, leading to the “skipping” of historical stages. Originally published in 1930.
  413.  
  414. Diamond, Larry, and Marc Plattner. Democracy after Communism. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002.
  415. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  416. A compendium of Journal of Democracy articles on the successes and failures of democratization and varying conceptions of democracy across the states of the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe in the decade after the demise of communist regimes.
  417. Arendt, Hannah. The Origins of Totalitarianism. New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1973.
  418. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  419. Although focusing on the rise of anti-Semitism in Europe in the late 19th century that culminated in the fascist regimes of the 20th century, Arendt’s masterpiece details the social, political, economic, and institutional contours of totalitarianism, the most concentrated and restrictive authoritarian systems yet devised. With emphasis on Soviet Socialism and Nazism, the regimes she analyzes are relegated to history, but the attraction of the form to authoritarian dictators remains relevant.
  420. Find this resource:
  421. Brownlee, Jason. Authoritarianism in an Age of Democratization. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007.
  422. DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511802348Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  423. Examines how ruling authoritarian leaders maintain power and the varying strategies they adopt. Examines both the mechanisms of policymaking and of ensuring regime cohesion, approaches to internal conflict management and resolution, and varying organizational forms. In particular, compares the differences between strong one-party ruling organizations and more personalized authoritarian rule and their varying degrees of stability against internal pressures for change.
  424. Huntington, Samuel P. Poltical Order in Changing Societies. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1968.
  425. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  426. The foundation of “modernization theory” in the field-comparative politics, Huntington’s emphasis is on the inevitable transformation of societies away from authoritarianism to democracy as a process of economic and political development. However, his analysis of “traditional” society and of authoritarian rule in its various forms (feudal, praetorian, oligarchical) continues to describe the essential elements of authoritarian regimes into the early 21st century.
  427. Find this resource:
  428. Linz, Juan J. Totalitarian and Authoritarian Regimes. Boulder, CO: Lynne Reinner, 2000.
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  430. Linz presents a useful typology of authoritarianism, describing three central forms: personalist, military, and party. Remains a useful comparative analysis of the subject.
  431. Find this resource:
  432. Moore, Barrington S. Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy. Boston: Beacon, 1966.
  433. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  434. A tour-de-force work whose bottom line, “no middle class, no democracy,” set the groundwork for modernization theory, theories of revolution, and the entire field of comparative politics. Offers an important connection between economic and political development that remains relevant into the early 21st century. A classic contrast of democracy to totalitarianism and autocratic rule more generally. Oddly, given the title and subject matter, it offers no succinct definition of “dictatorship” but certainly describes such systems.
  435. Find this resource:
  436. Spencer, Herbert. On Social Evolution. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1972.
  437. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  438. A social theory take to the development of political institutions in a modern Weberian approach. Like Moore, relates social and political development to the economic contours in society. Describes the link between centralized, authoritarian rule to the challenges of maintaining order in the face of internal and external threats, and approaches to establishing such order in different developmental settings.
  439. Bushkovitch, Paul. A Concise History of Russia. Cambridge Concise Histories. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2012.
  440. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  441. A comprehensive introductory textbook with a sweeping take on Russian history. While not exclusively a political history, it tells the story as a creation, decline, and collapse of empire, focusing on the successes and failures of the various autocratic leaders and the nature of their rule.
  442. Find this resource:
  443. Hedlund, Stefan. Russian Path Dependence: A People with a Troubled History. Routledge Studies in European Economy. London and New York: Routledge, 2005.
  444. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  445. A path-dependency argument that the early institutional arrangements of the Russian state cemented a future of authoritarian rule and patrimonial relations from which it has never escaped. Successive changes of leadership and regime have operated within this framework rather than fundamentally changing it.
  446. Hosking, Geoffrey. Russia and the Russians: A History. Cambridge, MA: Belknap, 2003.
  447. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  448. A social historian’s presentation of the contours of Russian history. Less about the rulers than about the ruled, with emphasis on the effects on social conditions and on the world resulting from the nature of that rule.
  449. Find this resource:
  450. Montefiore, Simon Sebag. The Romanovs: 1613–1918. New York: Knopf, 2016.
  451. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  452. A history of the rise, rule, and fall of the Romanov dynasty, spanning some 20 rulers over more than three centuries. Engaging and thorough take on the nature of these rulers and the policies they pursued during the rise, expansion, and decline of the Russian Empire.
  453. Find this resource:
  454. Pipes, Richard. Russia under the Old Regime. London: Penguin, 1995.
  455. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  456. Pipes’s classic history of Russia presents an argument that the patrimonial culture in part explains the patrimonial state. Pipes long argued that Russian culture is not compatible with liberal democracy, and that authoritarian rule is a more natural fit. His sweeping history of pre–Soviet Russia reinforces this perspective through examination of the currents of political history, and the rise of the police state in the late imperial period.
  457. Riasanovsky, Nicholas, and Mark Steinberg. A History of Russia. 8th ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011.
  458. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  459. Still widely regarded as the finest textbook on Russian history, Riasanovsky’s volume sets the standard for any introduction to the material. Chapters on every era from the founding of the country in the 9th century, and on the reigns of every ruler in the country’s history. While not exclusively a political history, it is organized around the political contours of the various rulers.
  460.  
  461. Bialer, Seweryn. Stalin’s Successors: Leadership, Stability and Change in the Soviet Union. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1980.
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  463. Succinct and masterful articulation of “the mature Stalinist system” and the changing nature of Soviet authoritarianism under Stalin’s successors. Focus on elite politics and interactions, and foretells of coming tensions within that leadership. While hindsight will highlight Bialer’s failure to see the system’s fragility of the system in light of those tensions, at the time his presentation made convincing the stability of that system.
  464. Find this resource:
  465. Colton, Timothy J. The Dilemma of Reform in the Soviet Union. New York: Council on Foreign Relations, 1986.
  466. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  467. Written just after Gorbachev came to power, this book set the standard for identifying the seriousness and range of problems and pressures facing the USSR, the likely future directions of change, and the dilemmas that reform efforts would pose.
  468. Find this resource:
  469. Dallin, Alexander, and Gail Lapidus, eds. The Soviet System in Crisis. Boulder, CO: Westview, 1991.
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  471. Excellent compendium of works on the unraveling of the Soviet system as Gorbachev struggled with reforms, many halfhearted, to keep Communist Party rule together. Impressive collection of experts detail fragmentation in the leadership, failure in policy, and fracturing of society that ultimately brought down the Soviet Union.
  472. Find this resource:
  473. Fainsod, Merle. How Russia is Ruled. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1963.
  474. DOI: 10.4159/harvard.9780674189188Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  475. Masterpiece introduction to Soviet politics, written during the height of the Cold War. Fainsod details the rigidity and control of the USSR as a totalitarian system, the nature of the party-state apparatus, and how it managed and controlled all aspects of social, economic and political development. The textbook standard for introductory courses for a generation of students.
  476. Find this resource:
  477. Hough, Jerry F., and Merle Fainsod. How the Soviet Union is Governed. Cambrideg, MA: Harvard University Press, 1979.
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  479. Hough’s reworking of his mentor’s original work was controversial, primarily for the inclusion of Fainsod’s name. Retained little of the totalitarian framework, instead detailing the flexibility and contours of the Soviet political system and society. Organized chronologically around leaders rather than around methods of control, and focuses on the methods of policymaking and implementation across issue areas. Also emphasizes areas of debate, discussion, and change.
  480. Find this resource:
  481. Jowitt, Ken. New World Disorder: The Leninist Extinction. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1993.
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  483. Jowitt presents a developmental political history of the Soviet Union, arguing that communism is a “genetic” type with a particular history repeated in every country that attempted to implement the Soviet-type system. Traces the development from revolutionary and radical zeal, to totalitarian xenophobia and terror, to bureaucratic retrenchment, to late-stage corruption, to reform and dissolution. An original and underappreciated approach, particularly given the accuracy of many of his concerned predictions for the future after communism’s collapse.
  484. Find this resource:
  485. McAuley, Mary. Soviet Politics 1917–1991. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992.
  486. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  487. Terrific, expansive overview of the historical development of the Soviet political system from foundation to collapse. Essentially a compendium of McAuley’s lecture notes from her introductory course at Oxford.
  488. Find this resource:
  489. Shipler, David K. Russia: Broken Idols, Solemn Dreams. New York: Penguin, 1983.
  490. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  491. Best-selling journalistic presentation of Soviet political history, alternating between accounts of Kremlin politics and societal impact. Wanders across space and time to paint a picture of political life in the USSR.
  492. Find this resource:
  493. Suny, Ronald Grigor. The Soviet Experiment: Russia, the USSR and the Successor States. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.
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  495. Magisterial political history of the Soviet Union, detailing the creation and development of the Soviet state and the nature of authoritarian rule under each leader, through the collapse of the system itself.
  496. Find this resource:
  497. Tucker, Robert C. Political Culture and Leadership in Soviet Russia. New York: Norton, 1987.
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  499. Survey of the nature of leadership and the nature of Soviet political culture, and the interrelationship between the two. An excellent source for examining the distinctions between and nature of society during the turbulent revolutionary period under Lenin, Stalin’s totalitarian state, Khrushchev’s lurching and often-contradictory effort to ease the state’s grip on society, Brezhnev’s bureaucratic authoritarianism, and the effects of efforts to reform in the final stages.
  500.  
  501. Applebaum, Anne. Gulag: A History. Norwell, MA: Anchor, 2007.
  502. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  503. Western journalist’s account of the Soviet Gulag system, based on extensive archival research.
  504. Find this resource:
  505. Applebaum, Anne. Gulag Voices: An Anthology. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2011.
  506. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  507. Companion to her Gulag Voices, this is a collection of writings of survivors of the Gulag.
  508. Find this resource:
  509. Conquest, Robert. The Harvest of Sorrow: Soviet Collectivization and the Terror-Famine. New York: Oxford University Press, 1987.
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  511. The definitive study on the ravages of forced collectivization on the Soviet people. This is the story of Stalin’s reign of terror on the population. The war on the peasantry that wiped out millions was repeated in nearly every Soviet-style state after World War II.
  512. Find this resource:
  513. Conquest, Robert. The Great Terror. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991.
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  515. First published in 1971, this is the groundbreaking study of Stalin’s purges and the elimination of all of the revolutionary generation of Bolsheviks, which also swept away untold millions across Soviet society. Conquest details the terror behind Stalin’s consolidation of power and establishment of his totalitarian system. Remains required reading for any interested in Stalin’s rule.
  516. Find this resource:
  517. Hosking, Geoffrey. The First Socialist Society: A History of the Soviet Union from Within. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1985.
  518. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  519. Hosking’s approach is that of a social historian, but is organized around the leaders and the changing nature of the Soviet authoritarian system from one leader to the next.
  520. Find this resource:
  521. Moore, Barrington, Jr. Soviet Politics—the Dilemma of Power. New York: Harper & Row, 1965.
  522. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  523. A look at the interplay of Soviet authoritarianism and the consequences for society and social change, with particular emphasis on the effects of Stalin’s terror on regime-society relations and the pursuit of policy objectives after Stalin.
  524. Find this resource:
  525. Service, Robert. A History of Modern Russia. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2005.
  526. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  527. Sprawling history of Russia from 1917 to the early 21st century, from a fused approach combining politics, economics, and society.
  528. Find this resource:
  529. Solzhenitsyn, Alexander I. The Gulag Archipelago. Vols. 1–4. New York: Harper & Row, 1973–1974.
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  531. Tour-de-force opus on the Soviet system of political prisons, many of which became death camps, by perhaps the most famous survivor and literary master. Provides an overall look into the scope at a grand scale, and of the harsh realities at the minute level of the individual, and still the best window into the horrors of Stalin’s totalitarian rule.
  532. Donaldson, Robert, and Joseph Nogee. The Foreign Policy of Russia: Changing Systems, Enduring Interests. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 2009.
  533. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  534. A wide-ranging introductory text that examines Russian foreign policy from the tsarist period through the present.
  535. Find this resource:
  536. Tsygankov, Andrei P. Russia’s Foreign Policy: Change and Continuity in National Identity. 2d ed. New York: Rowman and Littlefield, 2010.
  537. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  538. An excellent introductory text that covers Russian foreign policy from Gorbachev to Putin.
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