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This is a list of the greatest Russian history books. Open to all periods of Russian history.
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4.33 avg rating — 35,515 ratings
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3.94 avg rating — 108,842 ratings
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4.16 avg rating — 23,220 ratings
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4.38 avg rating — 6,046 ratings
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4.29 avg rating — 14,126 ratings
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4.33 avg rating — 42,312 ratings
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4.25 avg rating — 4,460 ratings
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4.15 avg rating — 13,440 ratings
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4.86 avg rating — 168 ratings
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4.26 avg rating — 3,173 ratings
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4.02 avg rating — 7,784 ratings
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4.26 avg rating — 5,448 ratings
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4.08 avg rating — 4,524 ratings
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4.07 avg rating — 4,030 ratings
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4.14 avg rating — 1,216 ratings
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17

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4.18 avg rating — 3,937 ratings
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18

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4.08 avg rating — 1,823 ratings
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19

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4.39 avg rating — 20,334 ratings
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20

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4.33 avg rating — 9,320 ratings
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21

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4.33 avg rating — 4,078 ratings
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22

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3.99 avg rating — 1,055 ratings
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23

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4.16 avg rating — 894 ratings
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24

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4.02 avg rating — 16,731 ratings
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25

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4.09 avg rating — 3,071 ratings
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26

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3.93 avg rating — 1,358 ratings
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27

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4.09 avg rating — 400 ratings
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28

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3.90 avg rating — 630 ratings
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29

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4.20 avg rating — 3,758 ratings
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30

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4.02 avg rating — 4,841 ratings
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31

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3.94 avg rating — 1,781 ratings
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32

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4.07 avg rating — 1,906 ratings
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33

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3.98 avg rating — 127,220 ratings
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34

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4.36 avg rating — 1,133 ratings
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35

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4.17 avg rating — 1,638 ratings
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36

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4.02 avg rating — 1,453 ratings
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37

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4.18 avg rating — 2,756 ratings
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38

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4.29 avg rating — 820 ratings
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39

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3.71 avg rating — 672 ratings
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40

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3.85 avg rating — 1,904 ratings
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41

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3.52 avg rating — 239 ratings
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41

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4.47 avg rating — 1,729 ratings
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43

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3.97 avg rating — 329 ratings
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44

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3.84 avg rating — 1,422 ratings
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45

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4.39 avg rating — 9,637 ratings
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46

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4.16 avg rating — 456 ratings
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47

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4.08 avg rating — 905 ratings
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48

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4.11 avg rating — 948 ratings
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49

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3.97 avg rating — 7,838 ratings
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50

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3.84 avg rating — 590 ratings
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51

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4.09 avg rating — 585 ratings
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52

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3.86 avg rating — 221 ratings
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53

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3.94 avg rating — 1,546 ratings
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54

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4.35 avg rating — 905 ratings
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55

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3.74 avg rating — 2,703 ratings
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56

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4.24 avg rating — 22,280 ratings
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57

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4.05 avg rating — 6,299 ratings
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58

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4.61 avg rating — 434 ratings
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59

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3.85 avg rating — 525 ratings
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59

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3.98 avg rating — 817 ratings
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61

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4.17 avg rating — 771 ratings
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62

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4.24 avg rating — 2,003 ratings
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63

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4.01 avg rating — 796 ratings
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64

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3.83 avg rating — 4,579 ratings
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65

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3.89 avg rating — 24,738 ratings
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66

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3.94 avg rating — 1,815 ratings
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67

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4.16 avg rating — 409 ratings
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68

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4.19 avg rating — 494 ratings
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69

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4.17 avg rating — 661 ratings
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70

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4.24 avg rating — 63 ratings
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71

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4.04 avg rating — 3,195 ratings
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72

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4.07 avg rating — 539 ratings
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73

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3.61 avg rating — 1,155 ratings
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74

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3.90 avg rating — 40 ratings
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75

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4.02 avg rating — 210 ratings
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76

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3.82 avg rating — 729 ratings
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76

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4.54 avg rating — 2,694 ratings
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78

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4.01 avg rating — 230 ratings
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79

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3.88 avg rating — 241 ratings
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80

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4.46 avg rating — 22,643 ratings
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81

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4.20 avg rating — 398 ratings
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82

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4.16 avg rating — 94 ratings
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83

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4.12 avg rating — 513 ratings
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84

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4.35 avg rating — 6,621 ratings
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85

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4.17 avg rating — 372,287 ratings
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86

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3.95 avg rating — 2,440 ratings
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87

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3.76 avg rating — 527 ratings
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88

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3.68 avg rating — 256 ratings
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89

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4.08 avg rating — 7,411 ratings
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90

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4.42 avg rating — 2,872 ratings
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91

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4.51 avg rating — 40,268 ratings
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92

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4.09 avg rating — 2,056 ratings
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93

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3.77 avg rating — 979 ratings
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94

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4.15 avg rating — 377 ratings
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95

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4.46 avg rating — 326 ratings
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96

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4.19 avg rating — 1,546 ratings
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97

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4.12 avg rating — 8 ratings
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98

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4.19 avg rating — 7,136 ratings
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99

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3.94 avg rating — 2,854 ratings
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100

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3.63 avg rating — 113 ratings
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327 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Zachary 824 books
20 friends
Kristine 804 books
8 friends
Lianne 6073 books
198 friends
Thom 6022 books
293 friends
Bettie 15686 books
19 friends
Susanna - Censored by GoodReads 3388 books
851 friends
Lobstergirl 5898 books
157 friends
Morticia 1088 books
7 friends

More voters…


Comments Showing 1-27 of 27 (27 new)

dateUp arrow    newest »

Susanna - Censored by GoodReads The Brothers Karamazov?


Themis-Athena (Lioness at Large) Yes, I'd been wondering about that one, too. What are novels doing on this list anyway?


message 3: by Rachel (new)

Rachel I wouldn't have added them either, but I'm not sure I'd be justified in taking them off--at least a few of them are pretty good sources of history, even if they're not history books.


Themis-Athena (Lioness at Large) Zachary, looks like this is a case for input from the list's creator: Were you intending this as a list for nonfiction books only, or are you comfortable with novels being added as well?


message 5: by Zachary (last edited Mar 23, 2011 12:07PM) (new)

Zachary Novels should not apply to this list. This is for historical works of non-fiction only.


Susanna - Censored by GoodReads OK - we'll remove them, then.


Susanna - Censored by GoodReads Removed for being fiction:

Darkness at Noon, by Arthur Koestler
Life and Fate, by Vasily Grossman
The Brothers Karamazov, by Feodor Dostoyevsky
Doctor Zhivago, by Boris Pasternak
The Sebastopol Sketches, by Leo Tolstoy
The First Circle, by Alexander Solzhenitzyn
Wolves Eat Dogs, by Martin Cruz Smith
We the Living, by Ayn Rand
War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy
Collected Shorter Fiction, by Leo Tolstoy
Great Short Works of Leo Tolstoy, by Leo Tolstoy
Short Fiction, by Leo Tolstoy
The Cossacks and Other Stories, by Leo Tolstoy
The Best Short Stories of Feodor Dostoyevsky, by Feodor Dostoyevsky
The House of the Dead, by Feodor Dostoyevsky
Notes from Underground, by Feodor Dostoyevsky
August 1914, by Alexander Solzhenitsyn
Red Square, by Martin Cruz Smith
Topaz, by Leon Uris


message 8: by Zachary (new)

Zachary Thank you! Swift and efficient.


Susanna - Censored by GoodReads No problem.

Please tell me if I missed anything.


message 10: by Aaron (new)

Aaron I love this list. I actually disagree with removing the fiction books. Many of those books actually have a lot to do with Russian History. My goodness, some of these books helped propel the Russian Revolution. Some of those books describe serfdom and the Russian culture better than many history books can. Anyway, just my opinion.


message 11: by Zachary (last edited Apr 15, 2011 12:04PM) (new)

Zachary Thanks for sharing your point. Indeed, many of these books had great influence, however, they are not history or non-fiction. This list is for history books, not literature or fiction. Please feel free to contribute to a list that accepts fiction or literature, as I believe there are some that already exist. There are also two main groups that deal with discussions on Russian literature.


message 12: by Heidi (new)

Heidi Guide me here! I want to read some Russian history, possibly for a book club. Where do I start? Thanks.


Susanna - Censored by GoodReads What area are you interested in? The imperial period, the Soviet Union, cultural history, political history, what?


message 14: by Themis-Athena (Lioness at Large) (last edited Dec 28, 2012 07:11PM) (new)

Themis-Athena (Lioness at Large) Looks like this is due for some renewed pruning -- fiction is beginning to creep back in.

ETA: Plus, what are books on the Tudors doing on this list?!


Susanna - Censored by GoodReads It's easy to add books to lists; at the top of the list, at the tab next to "all votes."


message 17: by Arunas (new)

Arunas Thanks very much -- I'm new to the site so didn't know. ;-)


Susanna - Censored by GoodReads No problem.


message 19: by Zachary (last edited Feb 11, 2013 11:10AM) (new)

Zachary Themis-Athena,

I completely agree that we need to weed out works of fiction. I went through and removed a handful. If you see any that I have overlooked please let me know.

Kindly,
Zach


Themis-Athena wrote: "Looks like this is due for some renewed pruning -- fiction is beginning to creep back in.

ETA: Plus, what are books on the Tudors doing on this list?!"



message 20: by Bettie (new)

Bettie The White Guard is fiction


Susanna - Censored by GoodReads As is Russka, by Edward Rutherfurd (currently #89).


message 22: by Zachary (new)

Zachary Susanna,

Thanks. Deleted.

Zach


Susanna wrote: "As is Russka, by Edward Rutherfurd (currently #89)."


message 23: by Andy (new)

Andy The best one is "And Quiet Flows the Don". As Russian, I can say that it is about Russia and Russian soul... Touching, hard, monumental... Cannot stop reading...
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0679...


message 24: by Lobstergirl (new)

Lobstergirl I saw some fiction - Taras Bulba by Gogol @78, saw something by Pushkin a bit later...


message 25: by Lobstergirl (new)

Lobstergirl Lobstergirl wrote: "I saw some fiction - Taras Bulba by Gogol @78, saw something by Pushkin a bit later..."

I deleted these plus several other novels.


message 26: by Lobstergirl (new)

Lobstergirl Title change reverted. We know this is a nonfiction-only list, because it says "History" right there in the title.


Susanna - Censored by GoodReads This librarian is getting very annoying with this stunt.


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