(Part 2) Reddit mentions: The best russian history books

You don't need to know Russian history to love and learn from Dostoevsky.

I agree that the Pevear and Volokhonsky translations are the best.

If you do want to read Russian history I recommend:

The Icon and the Axe is truly foundational, you have to read this book if you want to understand Russia and join the conversation about Russian history

Massie's biography of Peter the Great is one of the best books I've ever read. Reads like a novel, amazing story of Russia's move from a medieval/dark ages mentality to an enlightenment/scientific mindset. His bio of Catherine is also good--but his Peter is a classic across disciplines.

This is the best recent biography of Stalin.

Happy reading. Russian history is a hole you go into and don't easily come out. So much there, so interesting, so horrifying, so engrossing. American history is all about optimism (from the the non-native perspective). Russian history is all about suffering--from every perspective.

I would also like to recommend a 1936 Soviet black-and-white comedy movie "Circus", and especially its final scene.

From a historical point of view, it presents a pretty good summation of the way the Soviets wanted to present themselves both to the outsiders, and to the people within the country in relation to the question of ethnic minorities.

The story is that of an famous American circus performer who flees her country because of the stigma associated with her giving birth to a black baby. She is then blackmailed by the (German) circus agent into performing at his outfit. At the end of the movie she decides that she wants to remain in the Soviet Union, having fallen in love with the Soviet performer, and her agent tries to out her, only for her and her baby to be embraced by the Soviets instead, who also represent numerous different ethnic minorities within the Soviet Union.


Of some interest is also the child actor who played the role of the black baby - James Lloydovich Patterson, a man of mixed African-American/Ukrainian descent who was born in Moscow and spent most of his life in the Soviet Union, only emigrating to the United States after the fall of the USSR.


If you are interested in the details of Soviet policies regarding their multiple ethnic minorities I would also recommend The Affirmative Action Empire: Nations and Nationalism in the Soviet Union, 1923-1939 by Terry Martin, and an article by Yuri Slezkine The USSR as a Communal Apartment, or How a Socialist State Promoted Ethnic Particularism.

ALSO, funny you should mention Anna Anderson. I grew up with her identity a mystery, and semi-recently discovered she was identified almost right after making the claim she was Anastasia. Touted as one of the Greatest “Mysteries” of the 20th Century, it simply wasn’t a mystery, but her story was excellent. I’ve considered doing a write-up. Polish farmer Franziska Schanzkowska lucked out, having multiple conditions and scars Anastasia had, as well as high-ranking members of the Hessian and Romanov families desperate she be the youngest Grand Duchess. It’s an intriguing story of multiple identities, fantasy, poverty, wealth, and drama. I can lend the book I especially enjoyed Resurrection of the Romanovs: Anastasia, Anna Anderson, and the Worlds Greatest Royal Mystery to anyone with a Kindle!

> But if the purpose is peace and human advancement, doesn't one work better than the other?

They're not even working in the same way, so they aren't comparable. Science is better at actually accomplishing certain kinds of advancement, sure, because science is in the business of producing technical knowledge. If we cant to travel to the moon, then science is our ticket.

But religion is better at creating a imaginary world in which these goals are to be pursued, because religion is in the business of shaping the way we understand our place in the world. Science can take us to the moon, but science alone can't make us want to go there. When we start getting into the realm of narratives of human progress that would make going to moon part of our vision for the future, we've venturing out of science proper and into territory that's more associated with what religions do.

So if you want to get us to colonize the moon or something like that, the most effective means would be to combine the functions of scientific exploration and religious narrative. Make it a spiritual quest to colonize the moon, with science as the mechanical means. You'd want some kind of transhumanist religion, something like what these guys did.

I'm curious to hear more of your thoughts on it if you keep reading!

I think "utopian collectivist" is fair because it truly was a utopian ideology in the general sense - it was a blueprint for a system that was not just better but ideal, the "end of history", this is in Marx not just Lenin and was agreed by all those (Bolshevik and otherwise) who supported the Soviet experiment - and it was collectivist rather than individualist, which no Bolshevik would deny. It's not judgmental. I think it's a fair term.

I do have a background in Austrian economics although by the time of writing the dissertation, and now, I find it extremely flawed and wanting in it's current form. I have also always been emotionally connected to socialism in various forms, and was raised in a socialist family.

I do think the "fault" is in the ideas, but it is true that the particular outcome might have been very different under different circumstances, as must always be the case. You'll see more about my thoughts on this if you keep reading.

I have read plenty by Lenin and other Bolsheviks against reformism, along with some of their contemporaries, and also some more recent/modern Marxist writers on the subject, writing in the 1940s, 1960s, and later. (Some post-Lenin writers I have read, aside from Stalin and Soviet writers, include Mattick, Eastman, Shachtman, Draper).

(Yes, I've read Hal Draper and have read that article before.)

You might find it interesting to read what those outside Russia who were in favor of the Bolsheviks before the revolution wrote as it happened - a few saw right away that it would end as it did, many supported it for a long time and closed their eyes to any problems.

You might enjoy [this] (http://www.marxists.org/archive/eastman/1938/end-socialism.htm) by Eastman, and as for utopianism, you might enjoy several things which you can find quoted in my dissertation including
‘Proletarian Poetry,’ The Labour Monthly, Bogdanov, pp. 357-362; Transcribed: by Ted Crawford.
http://www.marxists.org/archive/bogdanov/1923/proletarian-poetry.htm

von James Geldern and Richard Sites, Mass Culture in Soviet Russia, (Indiana, 1995), including Kirillov, Vladimir. “The Iron Messiah,” and
Innokenty Zhukov, ‘Voyage of the Red Star Pioneer Troop to Wonderland’

And from a couple of famous Bolsheviks:

Leon Trotsky, ‘What Is Proletarian Culture, and Is It Possible?’, available at: http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1923/art/tia23c.htm

E.A. Preobrazhensky, From N.E.P. to Socialism: A Glance Into the Future of Russia and Europe, (London, 1973)
http://www.marxists.org/archive/preobrazhensky/1921/fromnep/index.html

Most literature I'm familiar with on global poverty shows that it is decreasing in relative and (over the last 30 years) absolute terms. If you have issues with income based methods, I'd suggest looking at the global literacy and infant mortality rates. As countries replicate the inclusive insititions (and hence, economic successes) of countries like South Korea this is likely to continue.

Regarding the reliability of Soviet statistics the easiest example is the 1937 census. This was the first census since 1926, and therefore the first that would follow the mass famines and purges of the early 1930s. When they accurately showed the population much lower than suited Stalin the statisticians were shot/gulaged. The 1939 census-makers got it right, and just reported that the predictions had been met exactly.

But referring to the Brezhnev years (1964-1982), or what Gorbachev called the "Era of Stagnation", there's a text called Brezhnev Reconsidered which is fantastic. (I'm afraid I'm having trouble finding more than the first chapter online, but there's always the Era of Stagnation wiki page.) That covers the economic difficulties of the period you've outlined as 'high-growth'.

By pointing out that their technological advances were constrained within certain sectors, I'm saying that the Bolsheviks built a state that was centralized enough to throw people at certain areas like Ancient Egypt did the pyramids. The most enduring innovation of the Soviet Union is the AK-47, designed, ironically by someone who'd rather have designed lawnmowers. Innovation happened not because of self-motivation, but because of central planning.

The relative power of the state vs its constituents is rather beside the point. The ability to vote, to choose your employer, to not be sold, to hold property even if you were black, or a woman, or a prisoner, are all liberties that weren't allowed back around 1850. Countries have implemented strong safety nets and universal access to healthcare and education.

Someone else could probably give you better recommendations but I can think of a few:

The Russian Revolution by Robert Service - Service has published many books on Russia from the 19th C to the present and is generally balanced and his writing style is very accessible (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Russian-Revolution-1900-1927-Studies-European/dp/0230220401/ref=sr_1_19?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1451504927&sr=1-19&keywords=robert+service)

Rethinking the Russian Revolution by Edward Acton - this goes over the events of the revolution but also contrasts different historiographical interpretations of it so is an interesting read especially if you want to see typical attitudes in the US in the 50s and in the Soviet Union (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Rethinking-Russian-Revolution-Reading-History/dp/0713165308/ref=sr_1_11?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1451504560&sr=1-11&keywords=russian+revolution)

The Russian Revolution by Sheila Fitzpatrick - this one is heavier going than Service but I enjoyed it as it is quite an original take on the revolution (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Russian-Revolution-Fitzpatrick-published-University/dp/B00E28GE3S/ref=sr_1_18?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1451504611&sr=1-18&keywords=russian+revolution)

I would highly recommend Ten Days That Shook The World by John Reed - it's not an academic history book but is an account of the revolution by an American journalist who was in Petrograd and Moscow at the time and is a very gripping read (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ten-Days-That-Shook-World/dp/1463683979/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1451504560&sr=1-13)

I researched what books to read about Russia before traveling here and this was the most often recommended:

Land of the Firebird

So glad I read it, amazing book. It covers mostly the cultural history, but in doing so makes a very good summary of Russia's history as a whole up to 1917.

It's been very eye-opening discovering the history of Russia and Slavic people. You begin to realize there is another parallel European culture with it's own rich traditions of music, literature, folk lore and superstitions, most of which has been hidden from the West only because of politics. Without the Russian Revolution I believe we would know the stories of Pushkin and music of Rimsky-Korsakov as well as we know the Brothers Grimm and Beethoven.

It’s like 7 grand, so you’re not wrong. it goes to a good cause, and continued research though, so...

Lyudmila Trut and a science author actually wrote a book on the subject for the general populace. It’s mostly a biography on Dimitri Belyayev and the aforementioned Lyudmila Trut, who were two of the most influential members of the study.

I thought it was pretty good

A History of Modern Russia by Robert Service is a pretty reasonable text. You stipulated "factual" and I'm not sure exactly what that means in your context, but this book is fairly straight forward and I actually think is best suited as an undergraduate textbook (although it is not strictly speaking a textbook). But it doesn't require much, if any, previous knowledge of the field or historiography, which makes it approachable for people who might be interested in the topic but haven't studied modern Russia much previously.

Yes. Both Pence and Trump will be implicated the second Flynn goes down. There is no way they can make the case that they didn’t know about Flynn’s Russia connections and his sons Russia backed conspiracy theories.

I honestly wouldn’t be the least bit surprised to find out that Mueller already has a strong case against Trump. There is just too many financial crimes that were in the open before you even dabble into collusion. I’m currently reading the book Collusion and there is just so much Trump did with Russia since the 80s.

To put things into perspective the USSR was using Trump as an asset in the 80s. He used his casinos and properties to clean oligarch’s money in the 90s and 2000s. And of course he colluded with Russia to win an election.

Russia in Revolution by SA Smith just came out and it's pretty good although not exactly left-wing. Rather refreshingly he doesn't shy away from pointing out that the non-Bolshevik parties brought their banning on themselves by boycotting the soviets and starting revolts.

Lars Lih's biography of Lenin is also pretty good.

The West: Encounters & Transformations, Combined Volume (4th Edition) by By Brian Levack, Edward Muir, and Meredith Veldman is a great book focusing on "the changing nature of the West—how the definition of the West has evolved and has been transformed throughout history". It looks at culture through beliefs, ideas, technologies, and peoples, both outside the West and within it.

Terrorism: A History by Randall Law is a great book that looks at terrorism from ancient Assyria to present (post-9/11) and discusses what is used and how/why it is used. It doesn't just focus on terror in the Middle-East, but also discusses topics including the Klu Klux Klan and Algeria (under French colonization).

Empires in World History: Power and the Politics of Difference by Jane Burbank and Frederick Cooper. The book starts with ancient Rome and China, but continues across Asia, Europe, the Americas, and Africa. This book discusses Empire, not just through the military, but through culture, economy, and religion.

A History of Russia by Nicholas V. Riasanovsky and Mark D. Steinberg is focused on Russia, but looks at the formation and continuation of Russia from its time as Kievan Rus through the Soviet Union to present. It's not just a military focus, but includes political, international, economic, social, and cultural history as well.

I'm not sure what type of history (except military in general) that you are interested in, but these books (though some are expensive) can give you a general idea of some of the major historical topics/themes/ideas. As it happens, I have all of these books and would be more than willing to give them to you. Bear in mind that I am in Canada so shipping might be an issue.

Of course they do. They love freedom hating thugs that murder journalists and support mass murderers like Assad and hack into American computer systems. Plus Putin let Trump make millions in business deals as has been documented. One reason, besides not being a billionaire that Trump won't release his taxes. Manafort is sure still involved in his campaign.

A great book for all the Putin admirers out there: The Less You Know, The Better You Sleep: Russia's Road to Terror and Dictatorship under Yeltsin and Putin

Fantastic! Amazing stuff. The horror of an invisible killer. Just knowing how much all those people are absorbing.

I had to do a quick physics lesson to brush up on my radiation.

So 200 roentgen/hr into mSv/hr would be 2000 mSv/hour. (Dont quote me on any of the radiation stuff said)

Y'all need to see this [radiation dose chart] (https://www-tc.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/files/2011/03/radiation.png)


Check down in the red on the chart to see what the 2 Sv looks like. Go to the Yellow to see the 50 Sv you would receive standing next to the core for 10 min.


Here is the imgur album that has been floating around reddit for the past couple of years - Highly recommend this: https://imgur.com/a/TwY6q

I started listening to this Audiobook the other night. It gave such a good background on the specific people, the night in the control room, everything. I am not finished but I highly recommend the book

Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster https://www.amazon.com/dp/1501134612/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_7No0CbHB03THX

Simon Sebag Montefiore is a "pop" historian, at best. If you're interested in the Revolution try:

http://www.amazon.com/Russian-Revolution-Sheila-Fitzpatrick/dp/0199237670/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1289970286&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/Revolutionary-Dreams-Utopian-Experimental-Revolution/dp/0195055373/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1289970294&sr=8-1

I remember reading "A History of Russia" in college, and that was a pretty good starting point. As well, I would suggest most books by Richard Pipes.

There can be materialist ideas that are pretty close to "mysticism", like the Russian cosmists, or the simulation argument. And on less cosmic versions of "mysticism", there are also plenty of attempts to connect the subjective elements of "mystical experiences" to materialist understandings of the brain in ways that argue the mystics might be intuiting deep truths about the basic dynamics that give rise to consciousness, as in Zen and the Brain and Why Buddhism is True.

How to Tame a Fox (and Build a Dog): Visionary Scientists and a Siberian Tale of Jump-Started Evolution https://www.amazon.com/dp/022644418X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_YVXgzbH16G4BM

Wonderful book on the subject.

First I'll note that you still didn't supply a source for your claim. As to your question, though:

There are just literally tens of thousands of books and journal articles and thousands of Russian authors who have been writing about this for decades. It seemed like the tone of your question was accusatory, suggesting that the scholarship on this subject is just a bunch of Americans who never bothered to ask any Russians what was going on. You would have to have little to no contact with the community who studies this stuff to think that. The reason I recommended Natasha's Dance is because it's great for people who are new to the subject and has a very good bibliography for those who are interested in further research. Another good book which focuses more on politics than on culture is Robert Service's A History of Modern Russia

As to your second point, that's a little bit dismaying. It sounds as if you're saying "Okay, I don't have a source, but you only have one so give me more, but even if you have more I doubt they're legitimate because they're probably written by non-Russians and therefore they're biased beyond credibility." It kind of sounds like I'm talking to an ideologue, in other words, and that I don't really have any hope in getting you to consider something contrary to what you're already set upon, but in the hopes that I'm wrong I'll answer your question in good faith. No, I don't think the historicity of the improvement of the Russian standard of living after the fall of the Soviet Union is questioned by any serious historian or political analyst. It is a fact supported by the research of every credible scholar and NGO that I'm aware of.

Finally, to suggest that Russia has accepted (and I'm guessing you put that word in scare quotes to suggest that they were coerced by The West to change their ways -- if so, that's a really problematic thing to say) our values and way of life is not only wrong (Putin is a dictator and the markets are still heavily distorted by the government) but confusingly implies that the two systems are equally worthy of consideration.

I think you'll have better luck with books than film. This book provides a very thorough account of the early days of Soviet/Russian space stations. This one is written (in part) by Alexi Leonov, the Soviet's star cosmonaut, and he talks about training with Gagarin and the other early cosmonauts in the Vostok days, and about his Voskhod spacewalk.

This one is pretty engineering focused https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0387735852/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1485892226&sr=1-1&refinements=p_27%3AGrujica+S.+Ivanovich&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&dpPl=1&dpID=51ZaFg4xi%2BL&ref=plSrch

I read a good one, but I don't remember it bringing up the black army much.

https://www.amazon.com/Russian-Revolution-Sheila-Fitzpatrick/dp/0199237670/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1486185536&sr=8-1&keywords=the+russian+revolution+sheila

It's based on the most recent evidence available and it's relatively neutral as to the intent of the actors, neither rabidly anti-communist nor "Lenin made the peeplz feel good" take on it.
It goes up through the agricultural collectivization stage under Stalin.

Yes, here you go. I'm buying it for everyone on my gift list this year.

Check out this book! Seriously such a good read and highly informative: How to Tame a Fox (and Build a Dog): https://www.amazon.com/dp/022659971X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_F1W2Db4V1WHF7

One of the authors, Lyudmila Trut, played a pivotal role in fox research.

If you're interested in domestication, there's a really good book titled "How to tame a fox (and build a dog)." It tells the story of the Russian fox experiment on domestication. It is more of a popular science book than a detailed reference work, but it gets the job done and one of the coauthors is the lead researcher who has overseen the experiment for ~60 years. https://www.amazon.com/How-Tame-Fox-Build-Dog/dp/022659971X/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?keywords=how+to+tame+a+fox+and+build+a+dog&qid=1573144473&sprefix=how+to+tame&sr=8-1

Anyone that thinks Putin is a great guy should read this: The Less You Know, The Better You Sleep: Russia's Road to Terror and Dictatorship under Yeltsin and Putin

Glad you asked! Always ask for sources.

There's quite a large body of work on the subject. A History of Soviet Atheism in Theory and Practice, and the Believer, a three volume work from Dimitry Pospielovsky, is a good place to start: http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/11885367?selectedversion=NBD4850609

A Century of Violence in Soviet Russia is another good one, and specifically addresses the Party's role in general and Stalin's in particular, including explicit reasoning for the terror- to stamp out religious belief.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0300103220?pc_redir=1411908407&robot_redir=1

Any good biography of Stalin addresses both his hatred of religion and his persecution of the religious when he rose to power. Young Stalin and Stalin: Court of the Red Tsar are both excellent.

Alexander N. Yakovelv Kruschev's right hand man explains it. He was the one looking in Russian records and came these conclusions.

For those of you interested in the book itself, it comes out tomorrow, November 16th. You can get it here from Amazon.

Read the book: Collusion: Secret Meetings, Dirty Money, and How Russia Helped Donald Trump Win https://www.amazon.com/dp/0525562516/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_IvyNAbYVXBHYJ

I highly suggest reading some of the personal accounts made by people who were actually there that evening before you break out your tinfoil hat. You'll find that you're quite mistaken. Here are a few good primers:

• Voices From Chernobyl
  
• Midnight in Chernobyl
  
• Chernobyl Notebook

> The Icon and The Axe

The Amazon link if anyone is interested.

You should read The Affirmative Action Empire.

I'm in a college history Modern Russia course. Here are the books assigned:
A History of Russia,
Russian Orthodoxy on the Eve of Revolution,
Everyday Stalinism,
and Armageddon Averted

the bolsheviks were all pricks^1

https://www.amazon.com/Collusion-Secret-Meetings-Russia-Helped/dp/0525562516

This one https://www.amazon.com/Russia-Revolution-Empire-Crisis-1890/dp/0198734824

book about the experiment

Nicholas and Alexandra by Robert K. Massie is a classic, if you are interested in the collapse of Imperial Russia and the rise of the USSR. Also, The Russian Revolution by Sheila Fitzpatrick.

I'm reading Collusion by Luke Harding right now. The book goes in some crazy details.

Link for Muricans: https://www.amazon.com/Collusion-Secret-Meetings-Russia-Helped/dp/0525562516/

Russia has been "courting" Trump since the 80s. Trump's personality and money woes were "useful" to the Russian oligarchy. Read the book Collusion for details on this and much more.
https://www.amazon.com/Collusion-Secret-Meetings-Russia-Helped/dp/0525562516