Russia

This is the definitive story of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster, based on original reporting and new archival research. Through two decades of reporting, new archival information, and firsthand interviews with witnesses, Adam Higginbotham tells the full dramatic story....

A sweeping, in-depth history of NSA, whose famous "cult of silence" has left the agency shrouded in mystery for decades....

The Nobel Prize winner’s towering masterpiece of world literature, the searing record of four decades of terror and oppression, in one abridged volume (authorized by the author). Features a new foreword by Anne Applebaum....

Bestselling author Max Hastings offers a welcome re-evaluation of one of the most gripping and tense international events in modern history—the Cuban Missile Crisis—providing a people-focused narrative that explores the attitudes and conduct....

The thrilling never-before-told story of Agent Sniper, one of the Cold War's most effective counter-agents....

Blind Man's Bluff shows for the first time how the navy sent submarines wired with self-destruct charges into the heart of Soviet seas to tap crucial underwater telephone cables....

From an award-winning historian, the first full depiction of the wave of anti-Jewish pogroms that followed the Russian Revolution and how they laid the groundwork for the Holocaust....

In a seamless meshing of exhaustive research, brilliant synthesis and narrative élan, Simon Sebag Montefiore chronicles the life and lives of Stalin’s court from the time of his acclamation as “leader” in 1929, five years after Lenin’s death, until his own death in 1953 at the age of 73....

In 2010, the words “earthquake swarm” entered the lexicon in Oklahoma. That same year, a trove of Michael Jackson memorabilia—including his iconic crystal-encrusted white glove—was sold at auction for over $1 million....

In 2014, the world witnessed the start of a mysterious series of cyberattacks. Targeting American utility companies, NATO, and electric grids in Eastern Europe, the strikes grew ever more brazen....

Volume 2 of the Nobel Prize-winner’s towering masterpiece: the story of Solzhenitsyn's entrance into the Soviet prison camps, where he would remain for nearly a decade. Features a new foreword by Anne Applebaum....

A revelatory history of one of Stalin's greatest crimes - the consequences of which still resonate today....

Volume 3 of the Nobel Prize winner’s towering masterpiece: Solzhenitsyn's moving account of resistance within the Soviet labor camps and his own release after eight years. Features a new foreword by Anne Applebaum....

The riveting, secret story of the hundred-year intelligence war between Russia and the West with lessons for our new superpower conflict with China....

Antonio Mendez and his future wife, Jonna, were CIA operatives working to spy on Moscow in the late 1970s, at one of the most dangerous moments in the Cold War. Soviets kept files on all foreigners, studied their patterns, tapped their phones....

The Austro-Hungarian army that marched east and south to confront the Russians and Serbs in the opening campaigns of World War I had a glorious past but a pitiful present....

Who was Kim Philby? Those closest to him—like his fellow MI6 officer and best friend since childhood, Nicholas Elliot, and the CIA’s head of counterintelligence, James Jesus Angleton—knew him as a loyal confidant and an unshakeable patriot....

Award-winning journalist Masha Gessen's understanding of the events and forces that have wracked Russia in recent times is unparalleled. In The Future Is History, Gessen follows the lives of four people born at what promised to be the dawn of democracy....

Robert K. Massie returns with another masterpiece of narrative biography, the extraordinary story of an obscure German princess who became Catherine the Great. Born into a minor noble family, Catherine transformed herself into empress of Russia by sheer determination....

An authoritative history of Europe’s largest military conflict since World War II, from the New York Times best-selling author of The Gates of Europe....

A landmark collaboration between a thirty-year veteran of the CIA and a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, The Main Enemy is the dramatic inside story of the CIA-KGB spy wars, told through the actions of the men who fought them....

A prize-winning historian reveals how Stalin - not Hitler - was the animating force of World War II in this major new history....

Between 1917 and 1921 a devastating struggle took place in Russia following the collapse of the Tsarist empire. The doomed White alliance of moderate socialists and reactionary monarchists stood little chance against Trotsky’s Red Army and the single-minded Communist dictatorship under Lenin....

When veteran war reporter Benjamin Hall woke up in Kyiv on the morning of March 14, 2022, he had no idea that, within hours, Russian bombs would nearly end his life....

A retired spy gets back into the game to solve a perplexing case—and reconcile with his daughter, a CIA officer who married into the very family that derailed his own CIA career....

Departing from a simple linear history, The Soviet Century traces all the continuities and ruptures that led from the founding revolution of October 1917, to the final collapse of the late 1980s and early 1990s, passing through the Stalinist dictatorship, the impossible reforms of the Khrushchev years, and the glasnost and perestroika policies of Gorbachev.

The KGB is one of the most famous abbreviations of the 20th century, and it has become synonymous with the shadowy and often violent actions of the Soviet Union’s secret police and internal security agencies. In fact, it is often used to refer to the Soviet state security agencies throughout its history, from the inception of the inception of the Cheka (Extraordinary Commission) in 1917 to the official elimination of the KGB in 1992.

In this brilliant, myth-busting account, Rodric Braithwaite, the former British ambassador to Moscow, challenges much of what we know about the Soviets in Afghanistan. He provides an inside look at this little-understood episode, using first-hand accounts and piercing analysis to show the war as it was fought and experienced by the Russians.

Amidst the turmoil of war, two men stand at the crossroads of destiny. Andrei Nikita Kuznetsov, once hailed as the Soviet Union's finest sniper, now languishes in the shadows of his former glory. Estranged from his family and drowning in self-loathing, he counts down his remaining days in a dilapidated apartment, numbing his pain with vodka. In contrast, Sasha greets each dawn with hope, until a cascade of mistakes threatens to extinguish his aspirations and threatens to derail his dreams. Rejected by his love, Anna, and adrift in a sea of failures, Sasha sees his future slipping away. When...

"My Life in the Red Army" by Fred Virski offers a rare, firsthand account of a soldier's experiences within the Soviet military machine during a critical period of the 20th century. Through the lens of Virski's personal journey, the book sheds light on the inner workings, struggles, and day-to-day life of the Red Army from the perspective of an ordinary soldier.

This second book picks up where the first left off, and tells the story of the conflict as it continues to unfold. The book examines the political, economic, and military developments in Ukraine and Russia that have shaped the conflict in recent years. It also explores the wider implications of the conflict, including its impact on European security and the role of the United States and NATO. The Russo-Ukrainian War is a complex and ever-changing conflict. This book provides a comprehensive overview of the conflict, and it is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the latest ...

This second volume of Kirill Moskalenko's memoir of his Great Patriotic War begins with the Battle of Kursk. Don't be put off by the first chapter. Moskalenko's Fortieth Army played a relatively minor role in the battle, and I believe he added a bit of unnecessary detail. There is a fairly good and cursory exposition on Voronezh Front operations during the battle in a verbatim report from General Vatutin, commander of Voronezh Front and Moskalenko's immediate superior. Moskalenko's small role at Kursk was not a function of Soviet Supreme Command's opinion of his abilities. The Germans ...

Lenin's work and influence have often been written off as no longer relevant, and many today consider this to be so. Lenin has, they claim, had his day, even though he is still revered in China, the world's most populous country. However, Lenin, like his mentor Marx, has had a tendency to rise from apparent decline and oblivion to renewed force and influence.

Fair warning. This is not a page-turning memoir. Marshal Rokossovskiy (who is editor, not author) and the gang of military men who helped him produce this tome did not set out to write a novel. This is a compendium of military reports, and analysis of those reports, dealing with the entire campaign of which Stalingrad was the centerpiece. It is an exhaustive detailing of events taking place between July 1942 and February 1943 as far north as Voronezh Oblast', as far west as Ukraine and as far south as Dagestan. In translating other books dealing with Stalingrad, I was left wondering why I ...

In Collisions, Michael Kimmage, a historian and former State Department official who focused on the Russia-Ukraine conflict, offers a wide-angle, historically informed account of the origins of the current Russia-Ukraine war.

Kirill Moskalenko commanded Red Army forces from the first day of the Great Patriotic War to the last. His remarkable path led him from the border battles that began the war to the left flank of the Battle of Moscow, to the Kharkov Offensive of May 1942, to Stalingrad and on to the campaigns of Southwestern Theater forces that resulted in the creation of the Kursk Salient. This first volume of his memoirs ends in early 1943. Moskalenko moved from one unit to another with what may seem astonishing rapidity. In his case it was no reflection—or perhaps little reflection—on his perceived ...

The subject of this book is centered around the ancient and medieval history of Armenia with its up-to-date modern development from the singular perspective of a dynastic story of different branches of a particular family. The book touches on the histories of the ancient kingdom of Armenia under the Artashesids, Arshakids, Mamikonians, Bagratids, and Artsrunids, the crusading kingdom of Cilicia under the Rubenids, Hethumids, and Lusignans, the principalities of Artaz, Aragatsotn-Oshakan, Hamshen, and Siunik under the Amatunis, Vachutians, and Melik-Parsadanians, and the illustrious houses ...

The 24 February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine is part of a long Russian siege and occupation that began since the 2004 November Orange Revolution. These essays are based on Fazle Chowdhury’s analysis reflecting his chilling observances. The threat of war had been looming since March 2021 as Russia began deploying troops along the Ukrainian border, including in Belarus, in the breakaway Moldovan region of Transnistria and occupied Crimea. Diplomacy looked to be the only instrument for peace, but met by a "Chamberlain-eques" reaction Europe's heavyweights; France, Germany and Italy, have...

"From Agony to Resilience: Ukraine's Struggle for Peace" by Robert Dobbs is a profound and moving account of Ukraine's recent journey from the depths of conflict to the heights of human courage and resilience. This non-fiction masterpiece offers readers an intimate look into the heart-wrenching experiences of a nation caught in the throes of war while also highlighting the unbreakable spirit of its people. Robert Dobbs meticulously documents the events that have shaken Ukraine, illuminating the suffering of its people. Through personal anecdotes and detailed analysis, Dobbs brings to life ...

At the start of Operation Barbarossa in June 1941, the Soviets were so caught by surprise at the start of the attack that the Germans were able to push several hundred miles into Russia across a front that stretched dozens of miles long, reaching the major cities of Leningrad and Sevastopol in just three months. The first major Russian city in their path was Minsk, which fell in only six days. In order to make clear his determination to win at all costs, Stalin had the three men in charge of the troops defending Minsk executed for their failure to hold their position.