1. Davis, Nathaniel. 2003. A Long Walk to Church: A Contemporary History of Russian Orthodoxy. Boulder: Westview.
2. Combining thirty years of diplomatic experience in Russia with archival research and interviews, Davis’ history of Russian Orthodoxy is the most reliable and up-to-date survey available. Besides being beautifully written, it includes enormous amounts of data and anecdotal evidence.
3. Smolkin, Victoria. 2018. A Sacred Space Is Never Empty: A History of Soviet Atheism. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
4. The first history of atheism in the Soviet Union from 1917 to 1991, Smolkin’s nuanced and fascinating book makes a significant contribution to our understanding of religion, ideology, and the collapse of the Soviet Union.
5. Tasar, Eren. 2017. Soviet and Muslim: The Institutionalization of Islam in Central Asia. New York: Oxford University Press.