There are many great books about the Soviet Union worth reading if you’re into history and keen to learn more. This is a guide to eleven detailed and informative USSR books that we think will give you a better understanding of the Soviet Union.  Many are accounts and contain a lot of insight while the ..read more

There are many great books on Chernobyl worth reading if you’re interested in learning more about the Chernobyl disaster.  The following books about Chernobyl are ones we recommend reading before you visit the Exclusion Zone.   Books on Chernobyl to Read Before Exploring the Exclusion Zone Tourism to Chernobyl has exploded in the last year thanks ..read more

My first trip to Ukraine was all the way back in 2011.  I say ‘all the way’ back because, unless you have been ignoring all major world news in recent years, you surely have heard about the revolution that took place in Ukraine and is still unraveling today.   Ukraine in 2011 is a very ..read more

I knew very little about Dnipro (formerly known as Dnipropetrovsk) before heading there despite trying to actively seek information about the Ukrainian city.  One thing I did know, however, was that the city was littered with abandoned buildings (in Russia and some of the CIS countries, they refer to urban exploration and the interest in ..read more

One of the most interesting pieces of architecture that I’ve come across in my travels are Soviet circus buildings. This post rounds up some of the circuses of the Soviet Union that I have visited throughout the years with a little bit of background on each. Foreword:  I don’t like circuses.  In fact, I can ..read more

If you come and hang out at my apartment, you will be quick to realize that I have a coffee table full of Soviet architecture books and a bookshelf filled with other types of reads that pertain to the same era.  These are my favorite books about Soviet architecture that you can order for yourself ..read more