Recommended books for understanding Russia

Year of Publication: 2024

Battleground Ukraine: From Independence to the War with Russia
By Adrian Karatnycky 

Battleground Ukraine: From Independence to the War with Russia

Collisions: The Origins of the War in Ukraine and the New Global Instability
By Michael Kimmage

Collisions: The Origins of the War in Ukraine and the New Global Instability

New Cold Wars: China’s Rise, Russia’s Invasion, and America’s Struggle to Defend the West
By David E. Sanger

New Cold Wars: China's Rise, Russia's Invasion, and America's Struggle to Defend the West

Riding the Tiger: Vladimir Putin’s Russia and the Uses of War
By Leon Aron

Riding the Tiger: Vladimir Putin's Russia and the Uses of War

My Russia
By Mikhail Shishkin

My Russia

Year of Publication: 2023

Getting Russia Right
y Thomas Graham

Getting Russia Right

Russia’s War against Ukraine
By Gwendolyn Sasse

Russia's War Against Ukraine

Ukraine Is Not Dead Yet: A Family Story of Exile and Return
By Megan Buskey

Ukraine Is Not Dead Yet: A Family Story of Exile and Return

Georgian and Soviet: Entitled Nationhood and the Specter of Stalin in the Caucasus
By Claire P. Kaiser

Georgian and Soviet: Entitled Nationhood and the Specter of Stalin in the Caucasus

China and Russia: Four Centuries of Conflict and Concord
By Philip Snow

China and Russia: Four Centuries of Conflict and Concord

Year of Publication: 2022

Digital Activism in Russia: The Communication Tactics of Political Outsiders
By Sofya Glazunova

Digital Activism in Russia: The Communication Tactics of Political Outsiders

Prestige, Manipulation, and Coercion: Elite Power Struggles in the Soviet Union and China after Stalin and Mao
By Joseph Torigian

Prestige, Manipulation, and Coercion: Elite Power Struggles in the Soviet Union and China after Stalin and Mao

The Shortest History of the Soviet Union
By Sheila Fitzpatrick

The Shortest History of the Soviet Union

The Story of Russia
By Orlando Figes

The Story of Russia

Putin vs. the People: The Perilous Politics of a Divided Russia
By Samuel A. Greene and Graeme B. Robertson

Putin vs. the People: The Perilous Politics of a Divided Russia

Cold War Radio: The Russian Broadcasts of the Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
By Mark G. Pomar

Cold War Radio: The Russian Broadcasts of the Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

Russian Information Warfare: Assault on Democracies in the Cyber Wild West
By Bilyana Lilly

The Russia Conundrum: How the West Fell For Putin’s Power Gambit – and How to Fix It
By Mikhail Khodorkovsky, with Martin Sixsmith

The Russia Conundrum

Hybrid Warriors: Proxies, Freelancers and Moscow’s Struggle for Ukraine
By Anna Arutunyan

Russia’s Road to War with Ukraine: Invasion Amidst the Ashes of Empires
By Samir Puri

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Failed State: A Guide to Russia’s Rupture
By Janusz Bugajski

Russia:Myths and Realities
By Rodric Braithwaite

Russia’s Path to the High-Tech Battlespace
By Roger N. McDermott

Russian Grand Strategy in the Era of Global Power Competition
By Andrew Monaghan

The Twilight Struggle: What the Cold War Teaches Us About Great-Power Rivalry Today
By Hal Brands

Riddle, Mystery, and Enigma: Two Hundred Years of British–Russian Relations
By David Owen

War with Russia? From Putin & Ukraine to Trump & Russiagate
B
y Stephen F. Cohen

Year of Publication: 2021

Belarus: The Last European Dictatorship (New Edition)
By Andrew Wilson

Belarus: The Last European Dictatorship

Collapse: The Fall of the Soviet Union
By Vladislav M. Zubok

Putin’s Labor Dilemma
By Stephen Crowley

Resurrected: Its Purpose and Power in a New Global Order
By Kathryn Stoner


Assignment Russia: Becoming a Foreign Correspondent in the Crucible of the Cold War
By Marvin Kalb

In the Jaws of the Crocodile:  A Soviet Memoir
By Emil Draitse 

Spymaster’s Prism: The Fight against Russian Aggression
B
y Jack Devine

Weak Strongman: The Limits of Power in Putin’s Russia
B
y Timothy Frye

Putin’s Playbook: Russia’s Secret Plan to Defeat America
By Rebekah Koffler

Year of Publication: 2020

Active Measures: The Secret History of Disinformation and Political Warfare
By Thomas Rid

The Hacker and the State: Cyber Attacks and the New Normal of Geopolitics
B
y Ben Buchanan

The Kill Chain: Defending America in the Future of High-Tech Warfare
By Christian Brose

Substate Dictatorship: Networks, Loyalty, and Institutional Change in the Soviet Union
By Yoram Gorlizki and Oleg Khlevniuk 

Putin’s People: How the KGB Took Back Russia and Then Took On the West
By Catherine Belton

Spies and Scholars: Chinese Secrets and Imperial Russia’s Quest for World Power
By Gregory Afinogenov

Lie Machines: How to Save Democracy from Troll Armies, Deceitful Robots, Junk News Operations, and Political Operatives
By Philip N. Howard

Trade Wars Are Class Wars: How Rising Inequality Distorts the Global Economy and Threatens International Peace
By Matthew C. Klein and Michael Pettis

Trade Wars Are Class Wars: How Rising Inequality Distorts the Global Economy and Threatens International Peace
Year of Publication: 2019

Blowout: Corrupted Democracy, Rogue State Russia, and the Richest, Most Destructive Industry on Earth
By Rachel Maddow

Blowout: Corrupted Democracy, Rogue State Russia, and the Richest, Most Destructive Industry on Earth

Putin’s World: Russia Against the West and with the Rest
By Angela Stent

Post Putin: Succession, Stability, and Russia’s Future
By Herman Pirchner Jr. 

Russia’s Crony Capitalism: The Path from Market Economy to Kleptocracy
By Anders Åslund

Russia's Crony Capitalism: The Path from Market Economy to Kleptocracy

From Russia with Blood: The Kremlin’s Ruthless Assassination Program and Vladimir Putin’s Secret War on the West
By Heidi Blake

The Age of Sharp Power: China, Russia and Iran. The Interference is not Soft. The Italian Case
By Paolo Messa

Year of Publication: 2018

The Road to Unfreedom: Russia, Europe, America
By Timothy Snyder

Year of Publication: 2017

Orders to Kill: The Putin Regime and Political Murder
By Amy Knight

The Idea of Russia: The Life and Work of Dmitry Likhachev
By Vladislav Zubok