For her last issue of “Regards vers l’Est” before summer, Clarisse Herrenschmidt offers her listeners a selection of books for summer. Ukraine, Russia, Poland, Georgia, Armenia, Belarus, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, and finally Czech Republic and Slovakia. Everything for everyone, with links that allow you to obtain them “online”.
The first piece of advice is to go and read, exclusively on the internet, the magazine Desk Russie, where you will find many original articles, written among others by Russians and Ukrainians, as well as by French specialists like Philippe De Lara.
Basic book on geopolitics :
Jean-Sylvestre Mongrenier and Françoise Thom: What do I know, Geopolitics of Russia (2nd edition 2022)
For the history of Ukraine :
Serhii Plokhy: At the gates of Europe, history of Ukraineat Gallimard.
Timothy Snyder : The Reconstruction of Nations, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, 1569-1999also at Gallimard
Also Timothy Snyder: Bloodlands. Europe between Hitler and Stalinat Folio
Iaroslav Lebedynsy: The “Ukrainian constitution” of 1710. The political thought of the Cossack elites of Ukrainepublished by L’Harmattan
Alain Guillemoles, Ukraine, the awakening of a Nationpublished by Les petits matins.
And as a transition between Ukraine and Russian history:
Andreas Kappelle: Russians and Ukrainians, the Unequal Brothers, from the Middle Ages to the present day, CNRS Editions.
History of Russia:
Michel Heller, History of Russia and its empireLead
Nicolas Riasanovski, André Berelowitch, postface by Françoise Thom: History of Russia from its origins to the present dayat Robert Laffont
On the Soviet period :
Alain Blum, Françoise Daucé, Marc Elie, Isabelle Oyhayon: The Soviet age. A journey from the Russian Empire to the post-Soviet world chez Dunod
Over the current period:
Françoise Daucé: Being an opponent in Vladimir Putin’s Russiaeditions Le Bord de l’eau
Mikhaïl Chichkine : Peace or WarBlack on White editions
Michel Eltchaninoff, Inside the head of Vladimir Putinpublished by Actes Sud
Sergey Medvedev, Putin’s Four WarsBuchet-Chastel editions
Galia Ackerman and Stéphane Courtois, Vladimir Putin’s Black Bookat Robert Laffont
On the economy :
Julien Vercueil, Political economy of Russia 1918-2018threshold
Ukrainian literature:
Artem Chapeye, Ordinary people don’t carry machine gunsat Bayard
Luba Yakymtchouk, Apricots from Donbass, published by Des Femmes. Poetry beautifully translated by Iryina Dmytrychyn
Russian literature:
Iegor Great: Z for Zombieat Folio Clandestine trip with two talkative women, The competent servicesboth at POL, as well as The KGB job interviewpublished by Bayard
As well as a little-known yet formidable novel from the time of the USSR: Albert Likhanov: The Great Flood (second hand)
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