Leaders of Russia and the Soviet Union, by John Paxton
published 2003 - read 2004

This dull, poorly-organized book has the feel of a work completed in order, under deadline: the entries on the earlier tsars are flush with intrigue and details, but by the time of the Soviet leaders all the more illuminating material is missing.  I found them in the voluminous glossary, which apparently was the author's dumping ground for all the notes he'd gathered but not had time to integrate into the book.  Throw in a variety of spelling and grammar mistakes and it's hard to recommend this book at all.

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