Good Russian history books
 

Does anyone have suggestions for just straight Russian history or some good historical fiction set in Russia? (no bodice rippers please.)

Hmm well this depends on your preferences- I like Kort's <i> The Soviet Colossus</i>, and the other great one is <i> The Icon and the Axe</i> which I think James Billington (?) wrote.

Russia has so much incredible drama, if you have more specific interests let me know, I may be able to lead you in the right direction...

%%-

I loved &quot;Natasha's Dance,&quot; a long but beautifully written cultural history by Orlando Figes. He also wrote an even longer book dealing with the Russian Revolution, including the period after and before the Revolution, &quot;A People's Tragedy.&quot;

As for historical fiction, well, there's certainly no shortage of classic fiction by Russian authors: Dostoevsky, Gogol, Tolstoy, Turgenev...and on and on.

&quot;Nicholas and Alexandra.&quot; I can't remember the author but great book!

Peter the Great - His Life and World by Robert Massie

Catherine the Great: Life and Legend by John Alexander

Holy Russia by Fitzroy Macklean

The 900 Days: The Siege of Leningrad by Harrison Salisbury

Stalingrad by Anthony Beevor

Marshal of the Soviet Union - Reminiscences and Reflections by G. Zhukov

The Soviet General Staff at War by General of the Army S.M Shetemenko.

&quot;Object of Virtue,&quot; by Nicholas Nicholson, a novel involving Faberg&eacute; pieces.

I am the walking living history of the break-up of USSR. Any questions? :)

Quiet flows the Don / &Ograve;&egrave;&otilde;&egrave;&eacute; &Auml;&icirc;&iacute;
by Mikhail Sholokhov

Uh - guess my last post indicates that though we can now type active URLs, cyrillic characters are still not possible...

I just finished &quot;War and Peace&quot; for the 3rd time. It's the ultimate Russian novel, probably the greatest novel in any language. I also recently read &quot;The Brothers Karamazov&quot; for the first time.Wonderful depictions of the &quot;Russian character&quot;. &quot;Crime and Punishment&quot; is another great Dostoevsky novel.

Russia and the Russians by Geoffrey Hosking is a great book, especially for early Russian history. After Ivan IV, I found it dragged a little bit probably due mostly to the fact that I knew more of that time period previously.