Encyclopedias, Companions & Handbooks

The Library has a large collection of reference works, most of them in electronic format. Discover relevant encyclopedias, handbooks and companions through a search in the Articles & more file of the Library's catalog. Simply limit your search results to Reference under Format.

Gale eBooks
Offers access to a large collection of digital encyclopedias, handbooks, and dictionaries, including The Encyclopedia of Russian History and The Encyclopedia of European Social History.

Oxford Handbook of Modern Russian History
Offers a collection of scholarly review articles that provide overviews and guidance to related publications.

Oxford Handbook of the History of Communism
Offers a collection of scholarly review articles that provide overviews and guidance to related publications.

A Companion to Russian History
Analytical essays on Russian history from the earliest Slavs to the first decade of the 21st century.

Oxford Bibliographies (Oxford University Press)  Tutorial
Presents peer-reviewed, annotated bibliographies and expert commentary on current scholarship in selected disciplines.

Cambridge History of Russia
Three volumes available through Cambridge Histories Online:
Volume 3: The Twentieth Century

Cambridge History of Communism
Three volumes available through Cambridge Histories Online:
Volume 1: World Revolution and Socialism in One Country 1917-1941
Volume 2: The Socialist Camp and World Power 1941-1960s
Volume 3: Endgames? Late Communism in Global Perspective, 1968 to the Present

Cambridge History of the Cold War
Three volumes available through Cambridge Histories Online:
Volume 1: Origins
Volume 2: Crises and Détente
Volume 3: Endings

Books / Monographs

Falvey Library Catalog
The Library's catalog enables patrons to search & browse Falvey Library’s collection of books, journals, audio/video materials, electronic resources and more.

WorldCat (FirstSearch)
Presents a combined catalog of the catalogs of more than 10,000 libraries worldwide. WorldCat highlights publications available at Villanova University. Other items can be requested via an inter-library loan request form.

Books and book chapters in the Library's print collection are an important source of critical literature. Take advantage of the different search options available in the library's catalog. Start with a keyword search and use the hyper-linked subjects to further narrow your search results. Facets can also be used to limit search results. Topic, region, era, and language are some of the available facets.

Keyword search: tsar* or czar*
Subject search: emperor* and Russia
Keyword search: commissar* and soviet
Subject search: communists and "soviet union"
Subject search: Russia and "ethnic relations"
Subject search: minorities and "Soviet Union"
Subject search: (Islam or muslims) and "Soviet Union"
Subject search: Russia and revolution and 1905
Subject search: "Soviet Union" and revolution and 1917

Primary sources published in books:

Author search: Lenin, Vladimir
Subject search: "Revolution, 1917-1921" and "Personal narratives"
Subject search: "Soviet Union" and revolution and sources
Subject search: "Soviet Union" and "political prisoners" and biography
Subject search: serfs and biography

Memoirs / Autobiographies / Correspondence

The most efficient approach to discovering available memoirs in the library's catalog is the author search menu option. Before you rush to grab one of these memoirs, click on the links below and check availability. You can use EZBorrow to request a copy from another library if the Falvey copy is already checked out. Or find more memoirs by typing the names of your favorite revolutionaries and tsarists into the catalog. Feel free to ask for help.

Articles

Historical Abstracts (EBSCO)
An annotated reference guide to the history of the world (excluding the United States and Canada) from 1450 to the present. Provides indexing of more than 2,300 academic historical journals in over 40 languages back to 1955 as well as book reviews and dissertations.
A Short Introduction to Historical Abstracts is a self-paced interactive tutorial for students new to this resource.

JSTOR
Provides a full text archive of academic journals and books in the humanities, social sciences, and mathematics. The most recent three to five years of a journal are usually not included.

Journals

  Current Digest of the Russian Press, 1949- (East View)

  Slavic Review

  Slavonic and East European Review

  Russian Review