Books on Russians

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anything by Fiona Hill, but especially Siberian Curse.

Anything by Timothy Colton.

Listen to Power Vertical podcast to keep up with current Russian politics, which helps you learn about contemporary Russian identity.

You can also ask me any more specific questions. I analyze Russian politics for a living.

Absolutely not. This is a Western and Orientalism view on a country that spans two continents. Nobody should try to "understand Russians" by reading Americans. Try Dr. Kate Brown.

[Anonymous]

Read the classics. Forget the books authored by Americans. British authors are a bit better but generally both suffer from the sin of being hard-welded to the Western lens. There's limited entertainment value in thousands of pages trying to figure out, why aren't they like us when they should be?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You should start with the classics. Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Pushkin, etc. I don't understand does what stem from Peter the Great? What do you mean why do they think they way they do? How do you think Russians think? From serfdom to 1812? Russians were still serfs in 1812. Serfdom was abolished in 1861. Are you suggesting that a. Russians all think alike, and b. that some U.S. author book can shed the light on these exactly same thinking millions of people? You should really ask Jeff to delete your insulting and thoughtless post.

It would be more accurate to say "some Russians were still serfs in 1812" since clearly not all of them were.

[Anonymous]

There are tons of regional variations to this - unless you're interested just in ethnic Russians and not in the entire span of former USSR.

I'm a half-breed Russian who grew up in the Caucasus and people like me are honestly closer to the natives than the Russians of Middle Russia. We are a mixed bunch.

[Anonymous]

Never read a Brit who thinks he knows anything about Russia, even if he won a Pulitzer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You should start with the classics. Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Pushkin, etc. I don't understand does what stem from Peter the Great? What do you mean why do they think they way they do? How do you think Russians think? From serfdom to 1812? Russians were still serfs in 1812. Serfdom was abolished in 1861. Are you suggesting that a. Russians all think alike, and b. that some U.S. author book can shed the light on these exactly same thinking millions of people? You should really ask Jeff to delete your insulting and thoughtless post.

You think it’s insulting to want to try to understand another culture? You’re the one who sounds ignorant.

No, she says it's insulting to look for clues to the Russian character in the writings of American and British authors.

[Anonymous]

Look at this one by my two homies https://www.amazon.com/Exile-Sex-Drugs-Libel-Russia/dp/0802136524

[Anonymous]

Read the book on red terror
They were as bad if not worse than the Nazis
Read on what they did to the Baltic republic's. The president of Estonia was arrested with his family. His young son starved to death in a Russian orphanage
Many have called for a Nuremberg type trial for red crimes, it just has not happened

[Anonymous]

Anne Applebaum has written a number of scholarly works about Russia.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Read the book on red terror
They were as bad if not worse than the Nazis
Read on what they did to the Baltic republic's. The president of Estonia was arrested with his family. His young son starved to death in a Russian orphanage
Many have called for a Nuremberg type trial for red crimes, it just has not happened

The Baltics? That's so awesome, coming from them. Seeing as most Jews in the Baltics were rounded up not by the Nazis but by their erstwhile local talent. So I guess the Jews of Latvia, say, never found out if Russians would be worse than the Nazis but they definitely did found out that the Latvians were as good as.

[Anonymous]

Not sure why this thread went so off the rails so quickly. Russia/USSR/former USSR is huge geographically, ethnically diverse, east-orientalist/western divides, and yes serfdom is akin to slavery.

Slavery existed in what is now the continental us as serfdom—equal opportunity oppression; later morphing into racial division of slavery. So when you hear serf in relation to Russia, apartheid in South Africa or Palestine, or indentured servitude for Australia or New Zealand, yes it is akin to slavery.

[Anonymous]

Check out books by Masha Gessen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not sure why this thread went so off the rails so quickly. Russia/USSR/former USSR is huge geographically, ethnically diverse, east-orientalist/western divides, and yes serfdom is akin to slavery.

Slavery existed in what is now the continental us as serfdom—equal opportunity oppression; later morphing into racial division of slavery. So when you hear serf in relation to Russia, apartheid in South Africa or Palestine, or indentured servitude for Australia or New Zealand, yes it is akin to slavery.

Agreed. In some way, serfdom is worse than slavery because slaves were fed and serfs were not, yet they could not leave the land they were attached to.

Recently a book about the war of 1812 came out. The author Evgeniy Ponasenkov did extensive research on Russian history and society structure, which he describes in painstaking detail. He has over 1400 references after working in provincial Russian and European archives. The book came out in 2018 and I’m hoping it will be translated into English. It’s a real gem, and the author shows no pro-Russian bias and tells it like it is drawing conclusions from the facts and evidence. This book would be a phenomenal primer on Russian history.

[Anonymous]

Pp again, here is a link
The Future Is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia https://www.amazon.com/dp/1594634548/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_6ie5DbM2CJFNE

[Anonymous]

Victor Suvorov has a great book on Stalin and WWII
https://www.amazon.com/Chief-Culprit-Stalins-Grand-Design/dp/1591148065