I recently recommended this book in another thread, but it’s absolutely worth mentioning again: “Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets” by Svetlana Alexeivich is a fantastic book, the best I’ve read on the subject.

I haven’t read Remnick’s “Ressurection,” but I can assume it’s similarly written to “Lenin’s Tomb” with a mixture of historical narrative and his personal experiences.

Secondhand Time, on the other hand, is an oral history drawing from the voices of hundreds of people across the Soviet Union from the 1990s to their 2010s. These interviews, which range from short snippets collected on the street to chapter long accounts by one individual provide a really in depth look at the various issues concerning the Soviet people- what does it mean to be communist or capitalist? How does one reconcile the shameful and bloody past of the Stalinist era with the future? What does it mean to be Russian, or Latvian, or Moldovan now that the shared soviet identity has collapsed? In looking at these issues Alexeivich interviews people from all levels of Soviet society, from the elderly who lived through the revolution to the youth of the 90s, from humble workers to party big shots, from almost every member republic of the Union.

Alexeivich is also great at keeping her voice out of it and letting the people speak for themselves. The end result is a rich, but also incredibly raw, often heart wrenching, book that dives deep into the soul and collective memory of the nation.

Absolutely recommend, 10/10

The Unquiet Ghost: Russians Remember Stalin is from six months of interviews done in 1991 by Adam Hoschild (you may be more familiar with his book King Leopold's Ghost — the man has a ghostly book theme). I recall it being helpful to me in understanding the hard adjustments ordinary citizens were making.

I also highly recommend Svetlana Alexeivich's work and agree with the commenter above.