The Invention of Russia

If this is your first historical book on the soviet union and russia, you'll feel like you're drinking from a firehose for the first several chapters. Alot of people and their history to capture in your mind. If you can hang in there, it starts to get to a point where you're remembering names and can see where the author's initial point about media and its influence come in.
I would recommend this as second book, or read it a second time if you want to understand all the information the author's providing.