SHORT THREAD: I've had a couple people for my #GMGReads recommendations on Putin, Russia, and the current geopolitics of eastern Europe. Here are the best relevant books I've ever come across:
1) IRON CURTAIN bookshop.org/books/iron-cur… and RED FAMINE, both by @anneapplebaum, are probably the two definitive works on the important-to-understand historic evils of the Soviet Union in Ukraine and Eastern Europe more broadly:
bookshop.org/books/red-fami…
bookshop.org/books/red-fami…
2) PUTIN'S PEOPLE, by @CatherineBelton, is a relatively new (and groundbreaking) look at how Putin and his network have consolidated power and spread their unique poison through the west. The oligarch names-she-named hated it so much they sued her: bookshop.org/books/putin-s-…
3) THE FUTURE IS HISTORY, by @mashagessen, is also about how Russia slipped from a dawn of democracy back in isolated totalitarianism, written by perhaps the keenest observer of modern Russia: bookshop.org/books/the-futu…
4) Relatedly, THE MAN WITHOUT A FACE, also by @mashagessen, is probably the best stand-alone biography of Putin: bookshop.org/books/the-man-…
5) Good histories of Ukraine are hard to find in English, but THE GATES OF EUROPE, which came out last year by the very knowledgeable @SPlokhy, would be a standout in any language: bookshop.org/books/the-gate…
6) The brand new and unfortunately timely NOT ONE INCH, by @e_sarotte, who is probably the leading historian of post-Cold War dynamics, tells the story of how NATO's expansion in the 1990s laid the groundwork and grievance for much of today's tensions: bookshop.org/books/not-one-…
@e_sarotte 7) And lastly, if you've never read it, MIDNIGHT IN CHERNOBYL, by @HigginbothamA, is relevant both as Ukraine history and as insight into the corruption at the heart of the Soviet Union, and is just a fantastic compelling read: bookshop.org/books/midnight…
Those are my favorites—what are your favorite books on Russia, Ukraine, or the post-Cold War era? What feels relevant right now?
Adding this rec here, which I haven’t read:
https://twitter.com/jenniferlcroft/status/1497896158739505152
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