158 ratings | 30 reviews | avg rating:4.46

Alexandra’s Year In Books

Alexandra’s 2025 Year in Books

Take a look at Alexandra’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.

Go to Alexandra’s 2025 Year in Books

Alexandra Popoff’s Followers (45)

Alexandra’s Bookshelves

to-read (8)
currently-reading (3)
read (164)

Alexandra’s Friends (14)

Ilya Baklanov

176 books | 27 friends

Anthony Bidulka

252 books | 1,247 friends

Antoinette Martens

29 books | 63 friends

Kathleen

12 books | 130 friends

Cathie Borrie

28 books | 879 friends

Rhonda Pollero

0 books | 261 friends

Gayle Smith

0 books | 37 friends

Bonnie Zink

924 books | 637 friends

More friends…

Alexandra Popoff

Goodreads Author

Born

Moscow, Russian Federation

Website

http://www.russianliteratureandbiography.com/

Twitter

@AlexandraPopoff

Genre

Biography, Nonfiction

Member Since

August 2010

edit data

ALEXANDRA POPOFF is a former Moscow journalist and Alfred Friendly Press Partners fellow. She is an expert on Russian cultural history and the author of five literary biographies, including the award-winning VASILY GROSSMAN (2019) and SOPHIA TOLSTOY (2010). Her book THE WIVES became a Wall Street Journal best non-fiction title for 2012. Popoff's latest book is a concise interpretive biography of AYN RAND ( Yale UP, Jewish Lives, 2024).

VASILY GROSSMAN AND THE SOVIET CENTURY won the 2019 Canadian Jewish Literary award for Biography, became a Finalist in the 2019 National Jewish Book Awards, Biography category, and was long-listed for the 2019 Cundill History Prize.

Popoff has written for The Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post, National Post, ...more

Learn more
Ask the Author

To ask Alexandra Popoff questions, please sign up.

Combine Editions
Alexandra Popoff’s books

Average rating: 4.12 · 648 ratings · 126 reviews · 6 distinct works • Similar authors

	Sophia Tolstoy: A Biography 4.15 avg rating — 201 ratings — published 2010 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Vasily Grossman and the Soviet Century 4.33 avg rating — 190 ratings — published 2019 — 12 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Wives: The Women Behind Russia's Literary Giants 3.93 avg rating — 203 ratings — published 2012 — 13 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Tolstoy's False Disciple 4.15 avg rating — 33 ratings — published 2014 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Ayn Rand: Writing a Gospel of Success 3.71 avg rating — 21 ratings — published 2024 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	As esposas: As mulheres nos bastidores da vida e obra de prodígios da literatura russa 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Alexandra Popoff…

21 posts
Alexandra Popoff's Blog

My Response to Gary S. Morson's attack on Ayn Rand

This is my response to Gary Morson’s critique of my biography Ayn Rand: Writing a Gospel of Success. My letter appeared in the 2025 winter issue of Jewish Review of Books, under the title “Life and Capital”.

An amusing quote attributed to Reverend Sydney Smith and later appropriated by Oscar Wilde says: “I never read a book before reviewing it: it prejudices a man so.”

This fully applies to Gary Mor Read more of this blog post »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on June 24, 2025 12:16 • Tags: alexandra-popoff, atlas-shrugged, ayn-rand, gary-morson, goddess-of-the-market, jennifer-burns, jewish, writing-a-gospel-of-success

View all 21 posts »

Alexandra is Currently Reading

Alexandra Popoff is currently reading

The Less You Know, the Better You Sleep: Russia's Road to Terror and Dictatorship under Yeltsin and Putin

by David Satter

bookshelves: currently-reading

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Jan 19, 2026 02:16PM

Alexandra Popoff is currently reading

Thinking the Twentieth Century

by Tony Judt

bookshelves: currently-reading

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Dec 22, 2025 09:39AM

Alexandra Popoff is currently reading

Looking for Trouble

by Virginia Cowles

bookshelves: currently-reading

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Nov 30, 2025 07:15PM

rss
Alexandra’s Recent Updates

Alexandra Popoff is currently reading The Less You Know, the Better You Sleep: Russia's Road to Terror and Dictatorship under Yeltsin and Putin by David Satter	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jan 19, 2026 02:16PM · like
Alexandra Popoff finished reading The Meaning of Hitler by Haffner	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Dec 28, 2025 05:32PM · like
Alexandra Popoff is currently reading Thinking the Twentieth Century by Tony Judt	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Dec 22, 2025 09:39AM · like
Alexandra Popoff is currently reading The Meaning of Hitler by Haffner	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Dec 22, 2025 09:37AM · like
Alexandra Popoff rated a book it was amazing Defying Hitler by Sebastian Haffner	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Sebastian Haffner’s Defying Hitler pictures Germany in 1933 with remarkable freshness. The memoir opens in 1914 when Haffner (or Raimund Pretzel, his real name) was seven. Haffner belonged to the generation of Germans who had experienced the Great W ...more
Dec 21, 2025 12:06PM · 1 like · like · see review
Alexandra Popoff voted for Mark Twain as Readers' Favorite History & Biography in the Final Round of the 2025 Goodreads Choice Awards. Cast Your Vote
Nov 30, 2025 07:16PM · like
Alexandra Popoff is currently reading Looking for Trouble by Virginia Cowles	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Nov 30, 2025 07:15PM · like
Alexandra Popoff is currently reading Defying Hitler by Sebastian Haffner	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Nov 30, 2025 07:06PM · like
Alexandra Popoff rated a book really liked it The Plague by Albert Camus	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I read The Plague in Laura Marris' recent translation (I found it unsatisfying) and in Stuart Gilbert's imaginative and inspiring interpretation published in 1969. Stricken with bubonic plague, the Algerian town of Oran is quarantined, sealed from the ...more
Nov 25, 2025 01:28PM · like · see review
Alexandra Popoff is currently reading The Plague by Albert Camus	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Nov 02, 2025 05:09PM · like

More of Alexandra's books…

Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
Discovering Russi...: Anna Karenina - Part Six - Chapters 1 - 32 (May 15 to 22)	12	31	May 26, 2012 08:28AM
The Reading For P...: What's on Your Monthly TBR?-May 2019	54	53	Jun 03, 2019 01:36PM
Reading the 20th ...: What books are you reading now? (2017-19)	2003	235	Jun 10, 2019 08:43PM
Reading the 20th ...: Stalingrad by Vasily Grossman (June/July 2019)	150	71	Jul 30, 2019 04:31AM
The Reading For P...: Chrissie's 2019 Books, Ratings and Reviews	258	103	Dec 31, 2019 06:03AM
Non Fiction Book ...: Non-Fiction Book You Are Currently Reading or Just Finished ~ 2019	1191	350	Dec 31, 2019 01:47PM