For those who have kindle and are interested in Russia, I would highly recommend ‘The Russo-Turkish War’ by Grant Barnwell. It is a ninety nine cent download. https://www.amazon.com/Russo-Turkish-War-Grant-Barnwell-ebook/dp/B00LIH88JY/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1479664990&sr=1-1#reader_B00LIH88JY
The book was written in the late 19th century by R. Grant Barnwell, a northern American whose interests also encompassed American evangelism, as found in his “Life of Moody and Sankey, the American Evangelists: Together with Scenes and Incidents of the Revival in Great Britain”.
To the point with Russia, the first half or more of his history of the war with Turkey is purely about Russia. It traces the origins and the development of the people and nation, the rise and ideology of the Czars, the culture and in very great detail - the religion, and how Russian Orthodoxy both tolerates and limits other religions.
The book is well worth the read for the cultural history alone, and the odd thing that needs serious thought which I have not seen in any serious, formal scholarship is this: Russia today has more in common culturally with 19th century Czarist Russia, than it does with 20th century Soviet Russia.
A further point worth considering when wondering at Russia skittishness towards the West - especially with Europe - is that the catastrophic Marxist and Communist ideologies which so devastated Russia, are Western imports. That cancerous strand of thought is alive and flourishing in the West still, as the histrionic EUniks and anti-Trump rioters and propaganda machines prove every day.
Russia has ample and good cause to be guarded when considering what influences will be encouraged within the still traumatized and sickly - but recovering - nation.
Thank you for the link. I find your reply to be very insightful. At times I have apologized to my Russian friends for having to disabuse them of their nostalgia for the US of a bygone era. What exactly are we fighting for or against in other parts of the world? Transgender bathroom rights, artificially high energy prices, speech codes, abortion, destruction to family, ruinous taxation, etc.?