Collapse – 50 Years in 50 Books
Published in 2021, Vladislav Zubok’s book Collapse is a major study of the collapse of the Soviet Union—showing how Gorbachev’s misguided reforms led to…
Soviet Union
Stalin: A Reading List
Joseph Stalin led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953 in a reign marked by ruthless tyranny and the deaths of…
Two Dresden Nights – an extract from ‘Not One Inch’ by M. E. Sarotte
In his annual press conference in December 2021, Vladimir Putin said, “‘Not one inch to the East,’ they told us in the nineties. So…
War in Ukraine: A Reading List
On 24th February 2022 Vladimir Putin sent 200,000 soldiers to invade Ukraine thinking he would swiftly sweep to Kyiv and depose the government. Russia…
The Fall of the Soviet Union – a timeline
In 1945 the Soviet Union controlled half of Europe and was a founding member of the United Nations. By 1991, it had an army…
Picture a Revolution: Russian and Soviet Art Books from Yale
2017 marks a century since the revolutionary year that brought about the fall of the Russian Empire and ushered in the rise of the…
The Last Days of Stalin: An Extract
‘Genghis Khan with a telephone.’ On 5 March 2023 it will be 70 years since the death of Joseph Stalin, the man who was…
Meet Ivan Maisky: The Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact
In part two of our blog series celebrating publication of The Maisky Diaries, Gabriel Gorodetsky shares an excerpt that provides unique insight into events surrounding…
The Real Shostakovich? Extract from ‘Music for Silenced Voices’ by Wendy Lesser
Music for Silenced Voices by Wendy Lesser, published in paperback this month, is a biography of Shostakovich that views him through the intimate music of his…