Hello,
As my title suggests, I am looking for some quality peer-reviewed books that cover the history of Russia starting with Rurik and the resulting Rurikid dynasty through to the 21st century/end of the Cold War. Specifically, a book that also discusses geographical context would be especially welcome. In other words, I am looking for a few good books that will give a very detailed history of Russia and the evolution of its culture/identity. Thanks.
I haven't read any books that go that far and that deep into Russian history in English, so I'm afraid I can't suggest anything there. There is some good research on the tsars and the Russian Empire written by Soviet historians because that was the way to talk about history without criticising the Communist Party, but it's in Russian. Not sure that a lot of it has been translated.
I do however know of a few books on 20th century Russia and the Soviet Union that I can suggest if you maybe narrow down the time period or subject area.
The most complete book on the history of Russia I've found is the Cambridge History of Russia, comprised of 3 volumes, totalling about 2500 pages. It starts at early Kievan Rus and ends at the end of the 20th century. So quite a big read, but it discusses a lot of international context. A great pro of this book is that it uses a lot of Soviet sources that weren't available in the years right after the fall of the Soviet Union.