Russia A History

by Gregory L. Freeze

  J. Scott, Behind the Urals (Bloomington, Ind., 1966), graphic account of the building of Magnitogorsk.

  L. H. Siegelbaum, Stakhanovism and the Politics of Productivity in the USSR, 1935–41 (Cambridge, 1986), on the Stakhanovite movement as a window on to industrial relations.

  ———and A. Sokolov (eds.), Stalinism as a Way of Life (New Haven,

  CT, 2000), interpretative documentary on life and work in Stalinist Russia.

  P. Solomon, Soviet Criminal Justice under Stalin (Cambridge, 1996), close study of a key institution.

  D. Thorniley, The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Rural Communist Party, 1927–39 (New York, 1988), shows party weakness and failure to establish control over the village.

  R. C. Tucker (ed.), Stalinism (New York, 1977), important collection of essays.

  ———Stalin in Power (New York, 1990), treats Stalin Revolution as a reversion to the developmental mode in pre-revolutionary Russia.

  L. Viola, Peasant Rebels under Stalin (New York, 1996), innovative examination of the culture of peasant resistance and collectivization.

  ———The Unknown Gulag: The Lost World of Stalin’s Special Settlements (Oxford, 2007), study of kulaks sent to special labour camps in early 1930s.

  D. Volkogonov, Stalin (New York, 1991), draws heavily upon new archival materials.

  12. THE GREAT FATHERLAND WAR AND LATE STALINISM, 1941–1953

  C. Andreyev, Vlasov and the Russian Liberation Movement (Cambridge, 1987), excellent account of anti-Soviet units formed from Soviet prisoners of war.

  J. A. Armstrong, Ukrainian Nationalism (3rd edn., Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1990), study of nationalist movements in the Ukraine during the Second World War.

  J. Barber and Andrei Dzeniskevich (eds.), Life and Death in Besieged Leningrad, 1941–44 (New York, 2005), essays on the Leningrad blockade with new data on the scale of privation and morbidity.

  ———and M. Harrison, The Soviet Home Front, 1941–45 (London, 1991), pioneering study examines how Soviet system withstood Nazi invasion.

  O. Bartov, The Eastern Front, 1941–45 (New York, 1986), discusses the German prosecution of the eastern campaign as a ‘race war’.

  F. Belov, The History of A Collective Farm (New York, 1955), inside account of life on a collective farm.

  Y. Boshyk (ed.), Ukraine during World War II (Edmonton, 1986), articles on German occupation and Ukrainian resistance.

  R. Brody, Ideology and Political Mobilization (Pittsburgh, 1994), on benefits and limits of Soviet ideology in validating the regime’s authority and controlling its citizens during the war.

  G. Bucher, Women, the Bureaucracy and Daily Life in Postwar Moscow, 1945–1953 (Boulder, Colo., 2006), examination of the extraordinary burden imposed on women and the shortfall of promised social services in post-war reconstruction.

  T. A. Chumachenko, Church and State in Soviet Russia: Russian Orthodoxy from World War II to the Khrushchev Years (Armonk, NY, 2002), well-researched account of the Church in the late Stalin and Khrushchev eras.

  R. W. Davies, Soviet History in the Gorbachev Revolution (Bloomington, Ind., 1989), on the historiography of the war.

  M. Djilas, Conversations with Stalin (New York, 1962), classic account of three encounters between Stalin and Yugoslav communists in the 1940s.

  T. Dunmore, Soviet Politics, 1945–53 (New York, 1984), general survey, contesting the totalitarian thesis and showing bureaucratic conflict as key to decision-making.

  J. Erickson, The Road to Stalingrad (New York, 1975), superior military analysis of the war up to Stalingrad.

  ———The Road to Berlin (Boulder, Colo., 1983), still the best history of the war from 1942 to its conclusion.

  D. Filtzer, Soviet Workers and Late Stalinism: Labour and the Restoration of the Stalinist System after World War II (Cambridge, 2002), on worker wartime resistance (chiefly by evasion and flight) against harsh working and living conditions.

  H. Fireside, Icon and Swastika (Cambridge, 1971), on the revival of the Orthodox Church under German occupation and rapprochement between state and Church in 1943.

  J. Fürst (ed.), Late Stalinist Russia: Society between Reconstruction and Reinvention (London, 2006), essays reflecting the growing interest in post-war Soviet era.

  J. Garrard and C. Garrard (eds.), World War II and the Soviet People (London, 1993), articles on the home front during the war.

  D. Glantz and J. House, When Titans Clashed (Lawrence, Kan., 1995), operational military history.

  S. N. Goncharov, J. W. Lewis, and X. Litai, Uncertain Partners (Stanford, Calif., 1993), collective work of international team tapping new archival documentation.

  Y. Gorlizki and O. Khlevniuk, Cold Peace: Stalin and the Soviet Ruling Circle (Oxford, 2004), critical reappraisal of decision-making in the post-war Stalinist regime.

  M. Harrison, Soviet Planning in Peace and War, 1938–45 (Cambridge, 1985), good account of the wartime economy.

  D. Holloway, Stalin and the Bomb (New Haven, CT, 1994), superb monograph on the Soviet atomic bomb programme.

  W. Moskoff, The Bread of Affliction (Cambridge, 1990), first-rate study of agriculture and food supply during the war.

  D. E. Murphy, What Stalin Knew: The Enigma of Barbarossa (New Haven, CT, 2005), close analysis informed by new archival sources.

  A. M. Nekrich, The Punished Peoples (New York, 1978), on the deportation of nationalities during the Second World War.

  R. Pennington, Wings, Women, and War: Soviet Airwomen in World War II Combat (Lawrence, Kan., 2001), on the significant role of women in the Soviet air force during the war.

  C. Porter and M. Jones, Moscow in World War II (London, 1987), social history from perspective of sympathy for the Soviet government.

  H. Ragsdale, The Soviets, the Munich Crisis, and the Coming of World War II (New York, 2004), recent survey of the diplomatic background to the outbreak of war.

  A. Resis (ed.), Molotov Remembers (Chicago, IL, 1994), provides insights into Soviet policy in the 1940s and 1950s.

  D. Reynolds (ed.), The Origins of the Cold War in Europe (New Haven, CT, 1994), collection of articles highlighting post-Cold War scholarship.

  H. Shukman (ed.), Stalin’s Generals (New York, 1993), short biographies of top Soviet commanders during the war.

  R. W. Stephan, Stalin’s Secret War: Soviet Counterintelligence against the Nazis, 1941–1945 (Lawrence, Kan., 2004), on Stalin’s actions to prevent Germany from recruiting agents in the Soviet military and intelligence.

  R. Thurston and B. Bonwetsch (eds.), The People’s War: Responses to World War II in the Soviet Union (Urbana, Ill., 2000), wide-ranging essays on the war’s impact and popular reaction.

  G. L. Weinberg, A World at Arms (Cambridge, 1994), prize-winning general history of the Second World War.

  E. Zubkova, Russia after the War: Hopes, Illusions, and Disappointments, 1945–1957 (Armonk, NY, 1998), on public opinion in post-war Stalin era.

  13. FROM STALINISM TO STAGNATION, 1953–1985

  S. H. Baron, Bloody Saturday in the Soviet Union (Stanford, Calif., 2001), on the Novocherkassk strike of 1962 and its repression.

  S. Bialer, Stalin’s Successors (Cambridge, 1980), on party leadership in post-Stalinist era.

  V. Bonnell and G. Breslauer (eds.), Russia in the New Century: Stability of Disorder (Boulder, Colo., 2001), essays on the late Yeltsin era.

  G. W. Breslauer, Khrushchev and Brezhnev as Leaders (London, 1982), penetrating assessment of leadership styles and achievements.

  R. A. Divine (ed.), The Cuban Missile Crisis (2nd edn., New York, 1988), contains new information and recollection of key participants.

  J. Ellis, The Russian Orthodox Church (Beckenham, 1986), informed contemporary history.

  L. Grau and M. A. Gress (eds.), The Soviet-Afghan War: How a Superpower Fought and Lost (Lawrence, Kan., 2002), the Russian General Staff’s post-mortem on the Afghan conflict, stressing Russia’s adaptation and the impact of American bounties and weapons for the ins
urgency.

  G. A. Hosking, Beyond Socialist Realism (New York, 1980), scintillating analysis of ‘village writers’.

  J. L. H. Keep, Last of the Empires (Oxford, 1995), sweeping recent history of post-war USSR.

  N. S. Khrushchev, Khrushchev Remembers (3 vols., Boston, MA, 1970–90), edited versions of memoirs.

  P. Jones (ed.), The Dilemmas of De-Stalinization: Negotiating Cultural and Social Change in the Khrushchev Era (London, 2006), essays on the impact of de-Stalinization on the public, policy, and culture.

  S. N. Khrushchev, Khrushchev on Khrushchevism (Boston, 1990), memoir of Khrushchev’s son.

  N. Lubin, Labour and Nationality in Soviet Central Asia (Princeton, NJ, 1984), on the complex problems of labour and economic development.

  A. McAuley, Economic Welfare in the Soviet Union (Madison, 1979), on poverty and income distribution.

  M. McCauley (ed.), Khrushchev and Khrushchevism (Bloomington, Ind., 1987), useful collection of essays.

  ———Nikita Khrushchev (London, 1991), reliable, up-to-date biography.

  J. Millar (ed.), Politics, Work, and Daily Life in the U.S.S.R. (New York, 1987), results of survey of former Soviet citizens.

  M. Shatz, Soviet Dissent in Historical Perspective (New York, 1980).

  M. J. Sodaro, Moscow, Germany, and the West from Khrushchev to Gorbachev (Ithaca, NY, 1990), expert account.

  W. Taubman, Khrushchev: The Man and his Era (New York, 2003), standard political biography based on exhaustive research.

  ———S. Khrushchev, and A. Gleason (eds.), Nikita Khrushchev (New Haven, CT, 2000), informative collection of essays on Khrushchev and his role.

  A. P. Van Goudoever, The Limits of Destalinization in the Soviet Union (London, 1986).

  V. Zubok, A Failed Empire: The Soviet Union in the Cold War from Stalin to Gorbachev (Chapel Hill, NC, 2007), informative survey of post-Stalinist foreign policy of the USSR.

  14. A MODERN ‘TIME OF TROUBLES: FROM REFORMS TO DISINTEGRATION’ 1985–1999

  A. Åslund, Gorbachev’s Struggle for Economic Reform (2nd edn., Ithaca, NY, 1991), critique of Gorbachev’s reforms, arguing in favour of a rapid transition to the market economy.

  Z. Barany and R. G. Moser (eds.), Russian Politics: Challenges of Democratization (Cambridge, 2001), broad essays on politics, centre-periphery relations, economic reform, and the armed forces in the 1990s.

  M. R. Beissinger, Nationalist Mobilization and the Collapse of the Soviet State (Cambridge, 2002), on the differentiated, but decisive impact of nationalist movements in the break-up of the USSR.

  A. Brown, The Gorbachev Factor in Soviet Politics (2nd edn., New York, 1992), incisive analysis of Gorbachev’s role and significance.

  ———Seven Years That Changed the World: Perestroika in Perspective (Oxford, 2007), valuable retrospective on Gorbachev and perestroika, emphasizing the dynamics that drove policy and decision-making.

  M. Buckley (ed.), Perestroika and Soviet Women (Cambridge, 1992), on the women’s question in the Gorbachev era.

  P. Chaisty, Legislative Politics and Economic Power in Russia (New York, 2006), on lawmaking in post-Soviet Russia, emphasizing the parliament’s negative role (in delaying, obstructing legislation) prior to the emergence of Putin’s United Russia.

  A. Chernyaev, My Six Years with Gorbachev (University Park, Pa., 2000), valuable memoir by a close aide to Gorbachev.

  T. J. Colton, Transitional Citizens: Voters and What Influences Them in the New Russia (Cambridge, Mass., 2000), detailed, sophisticated analysis of the 1995 parliamentary and 1996 presidential elections.

  ———Yeltsin: A Life (New York, 2008), definitive biography.

  W. L. Daniel, E. Stewart, and H. Stewart, The Orthodox Church and Civil Society in Russia (College Station, Tex., 2006), analysis of three parishes during the renaissance of Orthodoxy in post-Soviet Russia.

  C. Freeland, Sale of the Century: Russia’s Wild Ride from Communism to Capitalism (New York, 2000), account of insider politics and corruption.

  E. T. Gaidar, Collapse of an Empire: Lessons for Modern Russia (Washington, DC, 2007), informed assessment of the economic crisis and perestroika by the first prime minister in the Yeltsin government.

  G. J. Gill, Collapse of a Single-Party System (Cambridge, 1994), on the demise of the Soviet system.

  ———and R. D. Markwick, Russia’s Stillborn Democracy? From Gorbachev to Yeltsin (Oxford, 2000), introduction to politics in the transition era.

  M. S. Gorbachev, Perestroika (rev. edn., 1988), discussion of the ‘new thinking’ that shows the lack of clear vision, especially on realizing perestroika.

  ———Memoirs (New York, 1996), spirited defence of his leadership during perestroika.

  T. Gustafson, Capitalism Russian-Style (Cambridge, 1999), readable, inclusive account of the transition period.

  G. M. Hahn, Russia’s Revolution from Above, 1985–2000: Reform, Transition, and Revolution in the Fall of the Soviet Communist Regime (New Brunswick, NJ, 2002), general survey of perestroika and the break-up of the USSR.

  G. A. Hosking, The Awakening of the Soviet Union (rev. edn., Cambridge, Mass., 1991), early assessment of the Gorbachev era.

  ———et al., Independent Political Movements in the Soviet Union 1985–91 (London, 1992), on the emergence of political pluralism.

  J. F. Hough, Democratization and Revolution in the USSR, 1985–1991 (Washington, DC, 1997), on the high politics of perestroika.

  ———The Logic of Economic Reform in Russia (Washington, DC, 2001), emphasizes the pernicious role of the West in promoting corrupt practices in the economic transition.

  International Monetary Fund, A Study of the Soviet Economy, 3 vols. (Washington, 1991), wide-ranging survey of the Soviet economy on the eve of the dissolution of the USSR.

  A. C. Lynch, How Russia Is Not Ruled: Reflections on Russian Political Development (Cambridge, 2004), surveys Soviet legacies and turbulent 1990s.

  M. McCauley, Gorbachev (London, 1998), overview of Gorbachev and his role in the final years of the USSR.

  M. McFaul, Russia’s Unfinished Revolution: Political Change (Ithaca, NY, 2001), political overview from perestroika to 1996 election.

  P. Nagy, The Meltdown of the Russian State (Cheltenham, 2000), detailed critique of politics and economy policy in the 1990s.

  R. Sakwa, Gorbachev and his Reforms, 1985–1990 (New York, 1991), positive assessment of Gorbachev as reformer.

  A. Shleifer and D. Treisman, Without a Map: Political Tactics and Economic Reform in Russia (Cambridge, 2000), vigorous defence of economic policies advocated by outside consultants.

  G. Smith (ed.), The Nationalities Question in the Soviet Union (London, 1990), wide-ranging coverage.

  S. S. Smith, The Politics of Institutional Choice: The Formation of the Russian State Duma (Princeton, NJ, 2001), on presidential and Duma politics in the late 1990s.

  S. L. Solnick, Stealing the State: Control and Collapse in Soviet Institutions (Cambridge, Mass., 1999), shows how decentralization enabled local officials to divert assets and resources to own ends.

  K. Stoner-Weiss, Resisting the State: Reform and Retrenchment in Post-Soviet Russia (Cambridge), on the complex interrelationship of the centre and provinces under Yeltsin.

  L. M. Sundstrom, Funding Civil Society: Foreign Assistance and NGO Development in Russia (Stanford, Calif., 2006), study of selected NGOs and the role of foreign assistance.

  R. G. Suny, The Revenge of the Past (Stanford, Calif., 1994), on nationalism and the demise of the Soviet system.

  J. Wedel, Collision and Collusion: The Strange Case of Western Aid to Eastern Europe, 1989–1998 (New York, 1998), trenchant critique of Western aide to the former Eastern bloc countries.

  S. White, Gorbachev and After (3rd edn., Cambridge, 1992), short narrative of perestroika.

  B. Yeltsin, Against the Grain (London, 1990), autobiography, with revealing insights into the author’s rise to power.

  W. Zimmerman, The Russia
n People and Foreign Policy: Russian Elite and Mass Perspectives, 1993–2000 ( Princeton, NJ, 2002), on the contrast between the international values of élites and the isolationist indifference of lower classes.

  15. REBUILDING RUSSIA

  P. Baev (ed.), Russian Energy Policy and Military Power: Putin’s Quest for Greatness (London, 2008), essays examining hydrocarbon revenues and their impact on military power and reform.

  T. J. Colton and S. Holmes (eds.), The State after Communism: Governance in the New Russia (Lanham, Md., 2006), examination of Putin’s emphasis on the state and effective governance.

  ———and M. McFaul, Popular Choice and Managed Democracy: The Russian Elections of 1999 and 2000 (Washington, DC, 2003), sophisticated analysis of the Duma and presidential elections which inaugurated the Putin era.

  D. R. Herspring, Putin’s Russia: Past Imperfect, Future Uncertain (Lanham, Md., 2003), articles sketching Russia at the start of the new millennium.

  R. Kanet (ed.), Russia: Re-emerging Great Power (New York, 2007), essays on Russian foreign policy under Putin.

  A. Ledeneva, How Russia Really Works; The Informal Practices That Shaped Post-Soviet Politics and Business (Ithaca, NY, 2006), modus operandi of politics and business in the post-Soviet era.

  A. Politkovskaya, A Russian Diary: A Journalist’s Final Account of Life, Corruption, and Death in Putin’s Russia (New York, 2007), report by investigative journalist whose murder in 2006 became a cause célèbre and ignited much criticism of the Putin regime.

  A. Pravda (ed.), Leading Russia: Putin in Perspective (Oxford, 2005), essays on Putin’s first term.

  V. Putin, First Person (New York, 2000), political statement in first presidential campaign.

  C. Ross (ed.), Local Politics and Democratization in Russia (New York, 2009), essays on politics in the Putin era, accenting the residual power at local level despite Putin’s ‘vertikal’.

  R. Sakwa, Putin: Russia’s Choice (2nd edn., London, 2008), richly detailed account of Putin’s objectives and difficulties.

  ———Russian Politics and Society (4th edn., New York, 2008), systematic and unusually dispassionate analysis of the Putin era.