Geoffrey A. Hosking

Pretty great for what it is. Broad easy overview / history of Soviet experiment. a bit too sympathetic I would say, but still well told and well paced.

Covering the 1200s to 2000, it focuses very little on individuals or relationships. A slightly narrower timeframe (maybe 400 years) might have made it easier to give enough useful detail to key people thought time.

A good enlightening look at this period in Russian History. Really gets into the detail of the regions of the Soviet Empire, perhaps more the other histories of this type. The USSR was the Iron Curtain when I was growing up with not a lot of information getting to the west.

Perfectly concise coverage of Russia from Rurik to Putin. Any criticism you could level at the book would be in reference to things it left out, but the whole point of the book is to leave things out, so whatever.