Read-alikes and related books

Books like Putin

24 books recommended for fans of Putin by Philip Short, tied together by themes of Post-Soviet, Russian & Soviet, Russia, and Presidents & Heads of State.

Post-Soviet Russian & Soviet Russia Presidents & Heads of State Political World Political Science Biography & Autobiography History

Top related books to Putin

Read-alikes chosen for how well they continue the mood, themes, and voice of Putin.

Goodbye to Russia A Personal Reckoning from the Ruins of War — Sarah Rainsford

Goodbye to Russia A Personal Reckoning from the Ruins of War

Sarah Rainsford

Themes: Post-Soviet • Russian & Soviet • Russia

Freezing Order A True Story of Money Laundering, Murder, and Surviving Vladimir Putin’s Wrath — Bill Browder

Freezing Order A True Story of Money Laundering, Murder, and Surviving Vladimir Putin’s Wrath

Themes: Russian & Soviet • Russia • Presidents & Heads of State

Stalin Waiting for Hitler 1929-1941 — Stephen Kotkin

Stalin Waiting for Hitler 1929-1941

Themes: Russian & Soviet • Russia • Presidents & Heads of State

Boris Yeltsin The Decade that Shook the World — Boris Minaev

Boris Yeltsin The Decade that Shook the World

Themes: Russian & Soviet • Russia • Presidents & Heads of State

Putin’s People How the KGB Took Back Russia and Then Took on the West — Catherine Belton

Putin’s People How the KGB Took Back Russia and Then Took on the West

Catherine Belton

Themes: Russian & Soviet • Russia • Presidents & Heads of State

Conspirator Lenin in Exile — Helen Rappaport

Conspirator Lenin in Exile

Helen Rappaport

Themes: Russian & Soviet • Russia • Presidents & Heads of State

First Person An Astonishingly Frank Self-Portrait by Russia’s President Vladimir Putin — Vladimir Putin

First Person An Astonishingly Frank Self-Portrait by Russia’s President Vladimir Putin

Themes: Russian & Soviet • Russia • Presidents & Heads of State

The Crusader Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism — Paul Kengor

The Crusader Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism

Themes: Russian & Soviet • Russia • Presidents & Heads of State

Russia’s Changing Economic and Political Regimes The Putin Years and Afterwards — Andreĭ Stanislavovich Makarychev

Russia’s Changing Economic and Political Regimes The Putin Years and Afterwards

Andreĭ Stanislavovich Makarychev

Themes: Russian & Soviet • Russia • Presidents & Heads of State

Conversations with Stalin — Milovan Djilas

Conversations with Stalin

Themes: Russian & Soviet • Russia • Presidents & Heads of State

The Less You Know, the Better You Sleep Russia’s Road to Terror and Dictatorship Under Yeltsin and Putin — David Satter

The Less You Know, the Better You Sleep Russia’s Road to Terror and Dictatorship Under Yeltsin and Putin

Themes: Russian & Soviet • Russia • Presidents & Heads of State

Stalin The First In-depth Biography Based on Explosive New Documents from Russia’s Secret Archives — Edvard Radzinsky

Stalin The First In-depth Biography Based on Explosive New Documents from Russia’s Secret Archives

Edvard Radzinsky

Themes: Russian & Soviet • Russia • Presidents & Heads of State

The Man Without a Face The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin — Masha Gessen

The Man Without a Face The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin

Themes: Russian & Soviet • Russia • Presidents & Heads of State

Stalin The Court of the Red Tsar — Simon Sebag Montefiore

Stalin The Court of the Red Tsar

Simon Sebag Montefiore

Themes: Russian & Soviet • Russia • Presidents & Heads of State

Between Two Fires Truth, Ambition, and Compromise in Putin’s Russia — Joshua Yaffa

Between Two Fires Truth, Ambition, and Compromise in Putin’s Russia

Themes: Russian & Soviet • Russia • Presidents & Heads of State

The Spy and the Traitor The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War — Ben Macintyre

The Spy and the Traitor The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War

Themes: Russian & Soviet • Russia • Political

Riot Days — Maria Alyokhina

Maria Alyokhina

Themes: Russian & Soviet • Russia • Political

The Tragedy of Patton a Soldier’s Date with Destiny Could World War II’s Greatest General Have Stopped the Cold War? — Robert Orlando

The Tragedy of Patton a Soldier’s Date with Destiny Could World War II’s Greatest General Have Stopped the Cold War?

Themes: Russian & Soviet • Russia • Political

The Showman Inside the Invasion That Shook the World and Made a Leader of Volodymyr Zelensky — Simon Shuster

The Showman Inside the Invasion That Shook the World and Made a Leader of Volodymyr Zelensky

Themes: Russian & Soviet • Presidents & Heads of State • Political

Revolution Besieged Lenin 1917-1923 — Tony Cliff

Revolution Besieged Lenin 1917-1923

Themes: Russian & Soviet • Russia • Political

Once Upon a Time in Russia The Rise of the Oligarchs—A True Story of Ambition, Wealth, Betrayal, and Murder — Ben Mezrich

Once Upon a Time in Russia The Rise of the Oligarchs—A True Story of Ambition, Wealth, Betrayal, and Murder

Themes: Russian & Soviet • Russia • Political

Midnight in Moscow A Memoir from the Front Lines of Russia’s War Against the West — John J. Sullivan

Midnight in Moscow A Memoir from the Front Lines of Russia’s War Against the West

John J. Sullivan

Themes: Russian & Soviet • Russia • Political

Catherine the Great — Simon M. Dixon

Catherine the Great

Themes: Russian & Soviet • Russia • Political

The Rooster House A Ukrainian Family Story — Victoria Belim

The Rooster House A Ukrainian Family Story

Themes: Russian & Soviet • Russia • Political

This list brings together 24 books that share meaningful common ground with Putin by Philip Short. Connected by Post-Soviet, Russian & Soviet, Russia. Authors featured include Sarah Rainsford, Bill Browder, Stephen Kotkin, Boris Minaev, and others. Each pick was selected for thematic and literary overlap — not just genre similarity.

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