History Buffs, I could use a recommendation for a book to read during a hospital stay

[1-Old-Man]

I'm looking for a recommendation for a history book and if the book is available as an Audio book so much the better. I figured there would be no better place to ask than here. I would like to know more about the history of the part of the world that we usually mistakenly call Russia, but I mean to encompass all of the territories that would become the USSR. I'm interested in a period from about 1800 to the present, or at least up until the cold war. So of necessity it will be a very broad overview. I just came to realize that I really don't know a thing about the area or the people, just nothing at all.

If anyone has a favorite, particularly if its a book that I might find as an audio book for my Ipad, I'd really like to hear about it I'll be in the hospital for three days next week and were it not for the printed page or audio books I'd go nuts during the treatments.

[Turbineguy]

1. I enjoyed this book a few years ago:

http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Service-East-Constantinople-British/dp/0719564514

[etherealtruth]

2. Russka

by Edward Rutherfurd. The novel begins long before 1800, but it is insightful and wonderful.

His novels Sarum and the New Forrest are excellent works of historical fiction

[bhikkhu]

3. Barbara Tuchman's "The Proud Tower" is the run up to the first world war

- and a fascinating and well-written page-turner, believe it or not.

Some others - for the history of globalism, etc, "1493" by Charles Mann is one of the best recent books. His "1491" is also indispensable to get up to date on what the world was before, particularly North America. I thought I was well-informed, but there's ,so many new things to learn!

For classic history, Callahan's "Hinges of History" series is just amazingly well written and researched. Rather than bore you with statistics, dates and places, he takes you into the minds of the people so much you almost feel like you lived it. "How the Irish Saved Civilisation" is one of the best in the 5 book series.

I hope you hospital stay goes well and isn't anything to bad!

[JaneyVee]

4. A History of Russia: Peoples, Legends, Events, Forces since 1800

I think it may also be available in audiobook and paperback. It is a college textbook.

[ZRT2209]

5. EXCELLENT read: The Progressive Revolution by Michael Lux

[panader0]

6. "The Given Day" by Dennis Lehane (author of "Mystic River")

It's an historical novel about the early 1900's. I was entertained. Good luck at the hospital.

[politicat]

7. Some recommendations

All are available on audio, print and electronic:

The Illustrious Dead: The Terrifying Story of How Typhus Killed Napoleon's Greatest Army
By Stephan Talty -- about the invasion of Russia in 1812 and typhus (Russian history for the period you're interested in starts with the Napoleonic Wars.)

Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman by Robert K. Massie -- she shaped 19th century Russia.

Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford -- a little revisionist because ya know, the Khan WAS a genocidal monster who happened to do some good, but the bio is good and understanding Eastern Europe and western Asia depends on understanding the Mongols.

Vienna 1814 by David King This describes how the map of Europe got re-drawn at the end of the Napoleonic Wars (and how badly that went.) It's really entertaining.

Not specifically Russia, but good for understanding context and covers a lot of the world (and is nice and long) Debt: the First 5000 Years by David Graeber

Print and ebook only and Peninsular Wars rather than eastern front, but really interesting nonetheless: The Man Who Broke Napoleon's Codes: The Story of George Scovell by Mark Urban

Print only and may be hard to find, but provides serious scholarship on women in the Napoleonics, the Crimean War and British Indian subcontinent (which is related to Russian history because these conflicts and cold wars then set up today's issues) as well as relating to now. Following the Drum by Annabel Venning


There's a podcast, Hardcore History that is absolutely worth checking out. Long episodes ( 1-4 hours) usually multiple episodes on the same subject. Podcaster has not made any massive errors that I've heard (though my interests don't often overlap with his). I recommend Thor's Angels and his recounting of the fall of the Roman Republic.

[Summer Hathaway]

11. I just finished

Robert K. Massie's biography of Catherine the Great a few weeks ago. No one does it like Massie when it comes to bringing historical figures into full-blooded life.

[ZRT2209]

8. The Promise of America by Harvey Kaye

[underpants]

9. "What's the Matter with Kansas" for laughs "The Truth with Jokes" or Krackauer's Tillman book

"Where men seek glory" - Krakauer great read.

"The State of Jones' gives a look at the Civil War that is usually washed out by the pro-Confederacy revisionist movement.

[Summer Hathaway]

10. I am a nut for Russian history

and despite having read many books on the country and its people, my education is still full of holes - just SO much to read and absorb!

I think my favorite book remains "Nicholas and Alexandra" by Robert K. Massie. It is meticulously researched (but never boring), and covers the lead-up to Nicholas becoming Tsar upon his father's death, as well as the events and circumstances that finally led to revolution.

What I found most fascinating was the very detailed accounts of the opulence of the Russian court, along with very gritty accounts of what life was like for the peasantry.

The 'characters' one meets in this great read are each fascinating as well: Nicholas and his much-detested German wife Alexandra, Rasputin, Prince Youssapov, Kerensky, the Grand Duchesses and their sickly brother Alexei, Nicholas' ever-controlling mother, Maria, the military consultants Nicholas relied on in the face of the ever-surging discontent of the people he was meant to rule - the list goes on, too numerous to mention.

I am confident you will find this book a very engrossing read, and it covers what was (IMHO) the most incredible era of Russian history - the transition from old world values and iron-fisted monarchy to a nation determined to become part of the modern world.

Yes, yes - I realize I have gone on and on. But I have read this book several times already - and after extolling its virtues as a truly amazing read, I will undoubtedly indulge in it again very soon.

I hope your hospital stay goes well. I can promise you that if you take a copy of "Nicholas and Alexandra" with you, you will NOT be bored!

[Fish man]

12. The Great Game by Peter Hopkirk

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0719564476/ref=redir_mdp_mobile

[Mnemosyne]

13. 'Baba Yar', it will make the hospital food taste wonderful. Not sure where to find it though, I got

it at the library many moons ago. I felt their starvation while reading it. Intense.

Good luck with your hospital stay, hope all works out well.

[IDemo]

14. "1861: The Civil War Awakening", Adam Goodheart

Not Russian history, but if you want a closer look at the people, places and time, this is a fantastic read. It's available for Kindle and audiobook formats as well.

http://www.amazon.com/1861-Civil-War-Awakening-Vintage/dp/1400032199

[shcrane71]

15. The Long Walk: The True Story of a Trek to Freedom

by Slavomir Rawicz

It's a true story of six prisoners escape from a Soviet labor camp in 1941, and their walk to India.

It's fiction, but I am enjoying Ken Follet's latest books, Fall of Giants and the Winter of the World. The first book covers the lead up to and fighting of WWI, and the second book is the lead up to, and fighting of WWI with the same cast of characters from the US, Germany, and Russia and their children.