Score

I'm a bit confused - is this list for books about the social and cultural history of Russia, or Russian novels that are a part of that history, or both?

Since some novels were already on the list when I voted (and the list description doesn't specifically exclude them), I've assumed the list is for books of ALL kinds that prominently shed light on the social and cultural history of Russia, be it by way of a nonfiction analysis or by way of highlighting certain features in fiction (such as, e.g., the rural class system that's at the heart of Gogol's "Dead Souls"). Just my 2 cents, of course ...

Themis-Athena wrote: "Since some novels were already on the list when I voted (and the list description doesn't specifically exclude them), I've assumed the list is for books of ALL kinds that prominently shed light on ..."

Susanna wrote: "I'm a bit confused - is this list for books about the social and cultural history of Russia, or Russian novels that are a part of that history, or both?"

As a matter of state policy, post-revolutionary Russian leaders decided to pin Soviet cultural excellence on sport, ballet, and chess in equal measure. The in-Russia chapters in Searching for Bobby Fischer will tell you more of Russia in the 80s than many history books. Similarly, the stories that gulag inmates tell of their lives up to arrest tell us much about Soviet society, even though the inmates are living in a frozen waste far from the action.

And Quiet Flows the Don is the best book i've ever read.
amazing.