These writers are great historians and wonderful authors to read. There are many great Soviet historians and authors, but these are my favorites; except for the first two, they are listed in no particular order. I know the first several authors are not traditional.
| class="wikitable" |
| Author | Book(s) |
|---|
| Solzhenitsyn, A. | One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. (1962/1963).{{efn|The translation by H.T. Willetts is the only one that is based on the canonical Russian text and the only one authorized by Solzhenitsyn. See One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. (1991). New York, NY: Farrar Straus & Giroux {{isbn|978-0-00-271607-9}}.}} |
| Grossman, V. | Life and Fate (R. Chandler, Trans.). (2012). New York, NY: NYRB Classics.{{efn|Original work published 1960.}} |
| Gorky, M. | Mother{{efn|Original work published 1906.}} |
| Zamyatin, Y. | We (novel){{efn|Original work published 1921.}} |
| Nikolai Ostrovsky | How the Steel Was Tempered{{efn|Original work published 1932.}} |
| Figes, O. | The Whisperers: Private Life in Stalin's Russia. (2008). New York, NY: Picador.[{{cite journal |last1=Viola |first1=Lynne |title=Reviewed Work: The Whisperers: Private Life in Stalin's Russia by Orlando Figes |journal=Slavic Review |date=2008 |volume=67 |issue=2 |pages=440–443 |jstor=27652854 |doi=10.1017/S0037677900023640 }}][{{cite journal |last1=Perks |first1=Rob |title=Reviewed Work: The Whisperers: Private Life in Stalin's Russia by Orlando Figes |journal=Oral History |date=2008 |volume=36 |issue=2 |pages=107–108 |jstor=40179997 }}]
Revolutionary Russia, 1891-1991. (2015). New York, NY: Metropolitan Books. |
| Kotkin, S. | Stalin: Volume I: Paradoxes of Power, 1878–1928. (2014). New York, NY: Penguin Books.[{{cite journal |last1=Zubok |first1=Vladislav |title=Book Review: Stalin, Vol. I: Paradoxes of Power, 1878–1928 |journal=Cold War History |date=2016 |volume=16 |issue=2 |pages=231–233 |doi=10.1080/14682745.2016.1153851|s2cid=156644120 }}][{{cite journal |last1=Siegelbaum |first1=L. |title=Stalin. Volume 1, Paradoxes of Power, 1878-1928 |journal=Slavic Review |date=2015 |volume=74 |issue=3 |pages=604–606 |doi=10.5612/slavicreview.74.3.604}}][{{cite journal |last1=Folly |first1=Martin H. |title=Book Review: Stalin: Volume 1, Paradoxes of Power, 1878–1928 |journal=The Historian |date=2016 |volume=74 |issue=4 |pages=813–815 |doi=10.1111/hisn.12396|s2cid=152066357 }}][{{cite journal |last1=Tismaneanu |first1=V. |title=Book Review: Stalin: Volume 1: The Paradoxes of Power, 1878–1928 |journal=Perspectives on Politics |date=2015 |volume=13 |issue=2 |pages=567–569 |doi=10.1017/S1537592715000936}}]
Stalin. (Vol. 2). Waiting for Hitler, 1928–1941. (2017). New York, NY: Penguin Books.[{{cite journal |doi=10.1080/09668136.2018.1455444|title=Stalin. Vol. II: Waiting for Hitler 1928–1941|journal=Europe-Asia Studies|volume=70|issue=3|pages=477–479|year=2018|last1=Carley|first1=Michael Jabara|s2cid=158248404}}][{{cite journal |doi=10.1093/ahr/rhy475|title=Stephen Kotkin. Stalin: Waiting for Hitler, 1929–1941|year=2019|last1=Lenoe|first1=Matthew|journal=The American Historical Review|volume=124|pages=376–377}}]
Magnetic Mountain: Stalinism as a Civilization. (1997). Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.[{{cite journal |last1=Hudson |first1=Hugh D. |title=Reviewed Work: Magnetic Mountain: Stalinism as a Civilization. by Stephen Kotkin |journal=Slavic Review |date=1995 |volume=54 |issue=4 |pages=1096–1097 |doi=10.2307/2501463 |jstor=2501463 }}][{{cite journal |last1=Harris |first1=James R. |title=Reviewed Work: Magnetic Mountain: Stalinism as a Civilization by Stephen Kotkin |journal=Russian History |date=1997 |volume=24 |issue=3 |pages=364–366 |jstor=24658446 }}][{{cite journal |last1=Marker |first1=Gary |title=Reviewed Work: Magnetic Mountain: Stalinism as a Civilization by Stephen Kotkin |journal=The Slavic and East European Journal |date=1996 |volume=40 |issue=4 |pages=774–775 |doi=10.2307/310128 |jstor=310128 }}] |
| Applebaum, A. | Gulag: A History. (2003). New York, NY: Doubleday.[{{cite news |title=Gulag: A History, by Anne Applebaum (Doubleday) |url=https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/anne-applebaum |accessdate=1 February 2020 |work=The 2004 Pulitzer Prize Winner in General Nonfiction |date=2004}}][{{cite news |last1=Miner |first1=Steven Merritt |title=The Other Killing Machine. Review GULAG A History by Anne Applebaumof |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/11/books/the-other-killing-machine.html |accessdate=1 February 2020 |work=New York Times |date=May 11, 2003}}]
Red Famine: Stalin's War on Ukraine. (2017). New York, NY: Doubleday.[{{cite journal |last1=Kuzio |first1=Taras |title=Red Famine. Stalin's War on Ukraine |journal=Europe-Asia Studies |date=2018 |volume=70 |issue=8 |pages=1334–1335 |doi=10.1080/09668136.2018.1520510 }}][{{cite news |last1=Fitzpatrick |first1=Sheila |title=Red Famine by Anne Applebaum review – did Stalin deliberately let Ukraine starve? |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/aug/25/red-famine-stalins-war-on-ukraine-anne-applebaum-review |accessdate=1 February 2020 |work=The Guardian Book Reviews |date=August 25, 2017}}][{{cite news |last1=Hochschild |first1=Adam |title=Stalinist Crimes in Ukraine That Resonate Today |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/18/books/review/red-famine-stalin-ukraine-anne-applebaum.html |accessdate=1 February 2020 |work=New York Times Book Review |date=October 18, 2017}}] |
| Engelstein, L. | Russia in Flames: War, Revolution, Civil War, 1914-1921. (2017). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.[{{cite journal |last1=Orlovsky |first1=D. |title=Review Essay: The Russian Revolution at 100 |journal=Slavic Review |date=2017 |volume=76 |issue=3 |pages=763–771 |doi=10.1017/slr.2017.184}}][{{cite journal |last1=Korobeinikov |first1=A. |title=Review: Russia in Flames. War, Revolution, Civil War, 1914–1921 |journal=Europe-Asia Studies |date=2019 |volume=71 |issue=9 |doi=10.1080/09668136.2019.1674531 }}] |
| Lieven, D. | The End of Tsarist Russia: The March to World War I and Revolution. (2016). New York, NY: Penguin Books.[{{cite journal |last1=Sanborn |first1=J. |title=Reviewed Work: Towards the Flame: Empire, War, and the End of Tsarist Russia by Lieven, Dominic |journal=The Slavonic and East European Review |date=2016 |volume=94 |issue=4 |pages=752–754 |doi=10.5699/slaveasteurorev2.94.4.0752 |jstor=10.5699/slaveasteurorev2.94.4.0752 }}][{{cite journal |last1=Legvold |first1=R. |title=Reviewed Work: The End of Tsarist Russia: The March to World War I and Revolution |journal=Foreign Affairs |date=2015 |volume=94 |issue=5 |page=193 |jstor=24483773 }}] |
| Smele, J. | The “Russian” Civil Wars, 1916-1926: Ten Years That Shook the World. (2016). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.{{efn|Contains an extensive 46 pp. bibliography of English and non-English works on the “Russian” Civil Wars.}}[{{cite journal |last1=Lohr |first1=E. |title=Book Review: The "Russian" Civil Wars, 1916–1926: Ten Years that Shook the World. By Jonathan D. Smele |journal=Slavic Review |date=2017 |volume=74 |issue=4 |pages=1123–1124 |doi=10.1017/slr.2017.321}}][{{cite journal |last1=Wade |first1=Rex A. |title=Reviewed Work: The 'Russian' Civil Wars, 1916–1926: Ten Years That Shook the World by Smele, Jonathan D. |journal=The Slavonic and East European Review |date=2016 |volume=94 |issue=4 |pages=760–762 |doi=10.5699/slaveasteurorev2.94.4.0760 |jstor=10.5699/slaveasteurorev2.94.4.0760 }}][{{cite journal |last1=Kroner |first1=Anthony |title=Book Review: The 'Russian' Civil Wars 1916–1926: Ten Years That Shook the World |journal=Revolutionary Russia |date=2017 |volume=30 |issue=1 |pages=142–145 |doi=10.1080/09546545.2017.1305540}}] |
| Fitzpatrick, S. | Everyday Stalinism: Ordinary Life in Extraordinary Times: Soviet Russia in the 1930s. (1999). New York: Oxford University Press.[{{cite journal |last1=Rossman |first1=J. J. |title=Reviewed Work: Everyday Stalinism. Ordinary Life in Extraordinary Times: Soviet Russia in the 1930s by Sheila Fitzpatrick |journal=The Journal of Modern History |date=2001 |volume=73 |issue=3 |pages=722–724 |doi=10.1086/339084 |jstor=10.1086/339084 }}][{{cite journal |last1=Siegelbaum |first1=L. H. |title=Reviewed Work: Everyday Stalinism: Ordinary Life in Extraordinary Times: Soviet Russia in the 1930s by Sheila Fitzpatrick |journal=Slavic Review |date=1999 |volume=56 |issue=4 |pages=921–922 |doi=10.2307/2697237 |jstor=2697237 }}][{{cite journal |last1=Fedotova |first1=Oksana |title=Reviewed Work: Everyday Stalinism. Ordinary Life in Extraordinary Times: Soviet Russia in the 1930s by Sheila Fitzpatrick |journal=Russian History |date=1999 |volume=26 |issue=1 |pages=104–105 |jstor=24659264 }}]
Stalin's Peasants: Resistance and Survival in the Russian Village after Collectivization. (1994). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.[{{cite journal |last1=Johnson |first1=R. |title=Stalin's Peasants: Resistance and Survival in the Russian Village after Collectivization |journal=Slavic Review |date=1996 |volume=55 |issue=1 |pages=186–187 |doi=10.2307/2500998|jstor=2500998 }}][{{cite journal |last1=Orlovsky |first1=D. |title=Review: Stalin's Peasants: Resistance and Survival in the Russian Village after Collectivization |journal=International Labor and Working-Class History |date=1996 |volume=50 |pages=174–177 |doi=10.1017/S0147547900013363}}][{{cite journal |last1=Richardson |first1=William |title=Review: Stalin's Peasants: Resistance and Survival in the Russian Village After Collectivization |journal=History: Reviews of New Books |date=1994 |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=36–37 |doi=10.1080/03612759.1994.9950930}}][{{cite journal |last1=Merl |first1=Stephan |title=Reviewed Work: Stalin's Peasants: Resistance and Survival in the Russian Village After Collectivization by Sheila Fitzpatrick |journal=Russian History |date=1995 |volume=22 |issue=3 |pages=326–328 |jstor=24658456 }}] |
| Zygar, M. | The Empire Must Die: Russia’s Revolutionary Collapse, 1900-1917. (2017). New York, NY: PublicAffairs.[{{cite journal |last1=Thompson |first1=J. M. |title=Reviewed Work: A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution, 1891-1924 by Orlando Figes |journal=The American Historical Review |date=1999 |volume=104 |issue=2 |pages=681–682 |doi=10.2307/2650549 |publisher=Oxford University Press|jstor=2650549 }}] |
| Kenez, P. | The Birth of the Propaganda State: Soviet Methods of Mass Mobilization, 1917-1929. (2003). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.[{{cite journal |last1=Häfner |first1=L. |title=Reviewed Work: The Birth of the Propaganda State. Soviet Methods of Mass Mobilization, 1917-1929 by Peter Kenez |journal=Osteuropa |date=1988 |volume=38 |issue=11 |pages=1054–1055 |jstor=44913998 }}][{{cite journal |last1=Campbell |first1=J. C. |title=Reviewed Work: The Birth of the Propaganda State: Soviet Methods of Mass Mobilization, 1917-1929 by Peter Kenez |journal=Foreign Affairs |date=1986 |volume=64 |issue=4 |page=885 |doi=10.2307/20042739 |jstor=20042739 }}][{{cite journal |last1=hagen |first1=M. |title=Reviewed Work: The Birth of the Propaganda State: Soviet Methods of Mass Mobilization 1917-1929. by Peter Kenez |journal=Slavic Review |date=1986 |volume=45 |issue=4 |pages=741–743 |doi=10.2307/2498352 |jstor=2498352 }}][{{cite journal |last1=Mcclelland |first1=J. C |title=Reviewed Work: The Birth of the Propaganda State: Soviet Methods of Mass Mobilization, 1917-1929 by Peter Kenez |journal=The American Historical Review |date=1988 |volume=93 |issue=2 |pages=467–468 |doi=10.2307/1860024 |jstor=1860024 }}] |
| Slezkine, Y. | The House of Government: A Saga of the Russian Revolution. (2017). Princeton: Princeton University Press.[{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/18/books/review/yuri-slezkine-the-house-of-government.html |title=The Russian Revolution Recast as an Epic Family Tragedy |newspaper=The New York Times |date=August 18, 2017 |author=Shore, Marci |accessdate= September 2, 2020}}][{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/dec/15/the-house-of-government-by-yuri-slezkine-review-russian-revolution |title=The House of Government by Yuri Slezkine review – the Russian Revolution told through one building |newspaper=The Guardian |date=December 15, 2017 |author=Owen Hatherley |accessdate= September 2, 2020}}][{{cite web |url=https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/2018/02/26/book-review-the-house-of-government-a-saga-of-the-russian-revolution-by-yuri-slezkine/ |title=Book Review: The House of Government: A Saga of the Russian Revolution by Yuri Slezkine |publisher=The London School of Economics |date=February 26, 2018 |author=Rose Deller |accessdate= September 2, 2020}}] |
| Viola, L. | Stalinist Perpetrators on Trial: Scenes from the Great Terror in Soviet Ukraine. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.[{{cite journal |last1=Jones |first1=J. |title=Book Review: Stalinist Perpetrators on Trial: Scenes from the Great Terror in Soviet Ukraine |date=2018 |volume=73 |issue=3 |pages=769–771 |doi=10.1017/slr.2018.212|doi-access=free }}]
The Unknown Gulag: The Lost World of Stalin's Special Settlements. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. |