4 Books That Will Help You Understand Russia & Ukraine Today

I have finished my Master’s degree at McGill University on Eastern European modern political history and, I kid you not, was assigned more than 50 books to read in my first two semesters.

So, as I am reflecting on my postgraduate journey, I thought I’d return to some book recommendations.

I have a few books on my mind that I would love to recommend to you all in order to understand Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine better.

Books are great. And we’re all better off because of them. I hope you put these on your to-be-read list/pick some of them up after you finish reading this article.

Photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash

If you want to keep up with the books I’m reading, I would love it if you checked out my Goodreads account where I review books. I have most of the books I have read since 2014 listed there if you want to look at what shaped the reasoning in my books and blogs.

So, let’s get to the list.

1. The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine, by Serhii Plokhy

I start this list with The Gates of Europe because it is fresh in my mind. I have now read it twice and I find it incredibly relevant to present geopolitics.