Hello. I have taken a look through the book list and a quick search of the posts but I have not been able to find books than examine the economic, political, and organizational realities of the Soviet union. There are more than a few on the cold war more broadly but I am finding it hard to get a book about other details. Any recommendations would be appreciated.
Thank you in advance and sorry if I have broken any rules.
P.s. you guys do great work!
The second edition of Ronald Suny's The Soviet Experiment: Russia, the USSR, and the Successor States is one of the better textbooks on Soviet history that covers multiple aspects of the USSR from its inception to its collapse. Alec Nove's An Economic History of the USSR, 1917-1991 is a brief and very accessible economic history that traces the course of economic developments within the planned economy. Geoffrey Hoskings's Rulers and Victims: The Russians in the Soviet Union examines the anomalous place ethnic Great Russians had within the USSR. Finally, Alexei Yurchak's Everything Was Forever Until It Was No More is an excellent window into the social life of the last Soviet years.
The Court of the Red Tsar by Simon Sebag Montefiore is a biography of Stalin, so if you are looking at the Cold War it should cover the early periods of that.