Tsars, Soviets, Putin: A Study of Russia's Politics of History

A clear, well sourced history of Russia from the Eastern Slavs and Kievan Rus to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Written by specialists for the Library of Congress, it covers the tsars, the revolutions, Stalin, the Cold War and Gorbachev's reforms.

Library of Congress

A compact overview of Russian history in 26 short chapters, from the early Slavs and the Vikings to Ivan the Terrible, Peter the Great, the Revolution and the Soviet Union. Ideal as a first read before a longer survey.

Stanford University

A historian's reading of modern Russia, from the revolutions of 1917 through Stalin's terror, the Second World War and the early Cold War. It explains how the Soviet state and its social structure were built and what that legacy means for Russia today.

Michal Reiman

Essays on how Russia tried to modernise across a century, from late tsarism and Soviet industrialisation to the reforms of the 1990s and 2000s. Includes data tables on population, work and education in the USSR.

Markku Kangaspuro and Jeremy Smith