 | Alexander II: The Last Great Tsar by Edvard Radzinsky
Buy used from: $0.71 3 years ago I wrote a listmania "Serious and fun: readings in Russian history" This is what I've read since. Radzinsky is usually a good read, but take his conclusions with a large grain of salt.
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 | The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB by Christopher Andrew
Buy new: $18.72 / Used from: $3.97 The incredible tale of the KGB officer who spent years copying documents from the KGB archive. The secrets revealed are legion. This book also convinced me of the importance of intelligence history.
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 | Ivan's War: Life and Death in the Red Army, 1939-1945 by Catherine Merridale
Buy used from: $8.98 Sort of the Russian version of Stephen Ambrose's Citizen Soldier. The author also had an earlier study of death and burial in Russia. Sounds weird, but it was good.
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 | Vixi: Memoirs of a Non-Belonger by Professor Richard Pipes
Buy used from: $0.73 Ok, this isn't really about Russian history, but it is at least partly about the history of 'sovietology' in the US. Pipes had an incredible background, from war torn Poland to the NSA, a thriller.
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 | Stalin: A Biography by Robert Service
Buy new: $25.79 / Used from: $13.49 Service was the preeminent biographer of Lenin, in my opinion. This one on Stalin is equally good, although in Stalin's case the author is unfairly accused of going easy on Josef V, aka Stalin.
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 | Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar by Simon Sebag Montefiore
Buy new: $13.57 / Used from: $7.90 Why two biographies of Stalin? Well for one I read them both, and this is an interesting, and important look at Stalin's personal life. Stalin loved to watch American westerns, go figure.
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 | Reagan and Gorbachev: How the Cold War Ended by Jack Matlock
Buy new: $11.53 / Used from: $4.76 Matlock was the Gipper's man in Russia. Using new Russian sources, plus his own experience he recounts the final years of the cold war. He also wrote Autopsy on an Empire.
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 | Spy Handler: Memoir of a KGB Officer by Victor Cherkashin
Buy used from: $1.00 The fascinating story of a KGB officer who recruited Aldrich Ames and Robert Hanssen. I have to admit certain qualms about shelling out bucks for his book though, but it was very interesting.
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 | The Cold War: A New History by John Lewis Gaddis
Buy used from: $4.75 Gaddis is well respected, and has written quite a bit about this topic. This is a brief, but good summary of the cold war, especially for an introduction to the topic, but with insight for all.
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 | Kremlin Rising: Vladimir Putin's Russia and the End of Revolution by Peter Baker
Buy new: $18.15 / Used from: $0.01 Washington Post reporters recount experiences from Putin's Russia. If you read their articles in the Post, some of it will not be new. Hard on Putin, but tells about Beslan, Chechnya, and more.
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 | Gorbachev by Mikhail Gorbachev
Buy new: $22.23 / Used from: $4.89 Gorbachev muses about the world situation, socialism and more. Gorby is hard to figure out, he talks about democracy, freedom of thought, yet seems still beholden to Lenin. Worth a look.
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 | Across the Moscow River: The World Turned Upside Down by Rodric Braithwaite
Buy new: $45.00 / Used from: $4.87 British Ambassador to the Soviets, and then to the RF, he writes in the intro that as his immediate predecessor as the British Ambassador to Russia (not the SU) wrote a book,so should he. See below .
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 | Violent Entrepreneurs: The Use of Force in the Making of Russian Capitalism by Vadim Volkov
Buy new: $17.95 / Used from: $11.45 This is an interesting academic look at crime in the new Russia from several years ago. The Russain "mafia" looked to former military, intelligence services, and young "sportsmen" for their muscle.
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 | The New Russian Diplomacy by Igor S. Ivanov
Buy new: $22.95 / Used from: $1.86 Written by the former Foreign Minister, this was meant to be a study of the foreign policy of Russia under Putin.
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 | Russian Thinkers (Penguin Philosophy) by Isaiah Berlin
Buy new: $4.84 / Used from: $2.26 The classic on Russian thought, includes the famous fox and hedgehog analogy, and much more.
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 | The Last Grand Duchess: Her Imperial Highness Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna, 1 June 1882-24 November 1960 by Ian Vorres
Buy used from: $86.50 Back in print, this was the story of the sister of Nicholas II, who escaped the revolution, and ended up living in Canada. She was the one who early on debunked the whole Anna Anderson myth, sans DNA
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 | Elizabeth: Grand Duchess of Russia by Hugo Mager
Buy used from: $6.11 This is a really interesting story of the sister of Alexandra (wife of Nicholas) who eventually became an Orthodox nun, and was procalimed a saint by the Russian church.
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 | A Short History of Byzantium by John Julius Norwich
Buy new: $12.21 / Used from: $3.20 Nothing to do with Russia, you say? Not directly, perhaps, but it helped me understand earlier Russian thought, as well as worthwhile on its own. Relatively short, give it a read.
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 | K-19 THE WIDOWMAKER: The Secret Story of The Soviet Nuclear Submarine by Peter Capt Ret Huchthausen
Buy used from: $0.01 The true story of the movie. While the movie has lots of Hollywood elements, I read that when some of the veterans of the K-19 saw it, they liked it, probably not for the accuracy, but the memory.
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 | A Time to Die: The Untold Story of the Kursk Tragedy by Robert Moore
Buy used from: $9.17 Another Russian sub story, this one of the recent tragedy in the summer of 2000. I remeber all the Russian excuses at the time...the US somehow caused it, etc. A defining moment of post Soviet RF.
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 | The Amber Room: The Fate of the World's Greatest Lost Treasure by Catherine Scott-Clark
Buy new: $10.88 / Used from: $0.01 A fun and fascinating detective story about the disappearance of the famous amber room from Saint Petersburg during the war. Nazi intrigue, Soviet corruption, and modern investigative journalism.
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 | My mission to Russia and other diplomatic memories by George Buchanan
OK, in my last list I mistakenly listed Sir Bernard Pares book as this one. Buchanan's is the account of the last British Ambassador to Imperial Russia. Out of print. (Pipes takes Pares to task, btw)
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 | War and Peace (Special Edition)
Buy used from: $94.95 3 DVD's to finish. This is a Russian restoration effort of the classic film. Not as slick as Hollywood, perhaps, but then, Cecil B. Demille couldn't call on Red Army regiments as extras, either.
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 | Russian Ark: The Masterworks Edition
Buy new: $16.49 / Used from: $9.99 This is a somewhat experimental one take film about the Hermitage museum, and Russian history using our old friend the MArquis de Custine as guide. Somewhat quirky, its worth it for the ball scene.
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 | Russia - Land of the Tsars
Buy new: $17.49 / Used from: $12.00 At times flawed (History channel, need I say more) but still interesting look at Russia under the Tsars, from the earliest periods up to Nicholas II. The Musgorsky theme, photos and paintings save it.
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Listmania!
