John M. ThompsonRussia: A Historical Introduction from Kievan Rus' to the Present

A great read for history majors or lovers of history. It’s also a great book to start learning about Russian history. It has a bit of a bias towards Peter the Great and the author makes it clear he was not a good leader, while authors might say neutral things to remain unbiased. Lots of authors tend to agree or disagree he was a good leader but I would still recommend this book.