Free Book - Storming Fortresses: A Political History Of Chess In The Soviet Union, 1917-1948

     Actually it's not a book, but a 422-page pdf thesis submitted in 2013 by Michael Hudson of the University of California that makes fascinating reading either online, or it can be downloaded.  LINK
     In addition to chess books and the Cleveland Public Library's John G. White Collection the author also was able to access private collections through the director of the St. Petersburg Chess Club. And, through a friend who is an official at the Lenin Library, he was allowed to access parts of the collection that was closed to the public at the time. It's a fascinating look behind the scenes into Russia's rise to the top in chess. Just look at the chapter titles:

Chess in Pre-revolutionary Russia 
Karl Marx's Chess Problem 
Lenin's Game 
Ilyn-Zhenevsky and the Origins of Soviet Chess 
The First Soviet Championship 
The Struggle for the Soul of Soviet Chess 1920-1924 
The Spectacle of 1925 
Retrenchment and Expansion Soviet Chess and the Workers' Chess International 
Botvinnik: The New Soviet (Chess) Man 
The Classical Land of Chess Soviet Chess and the Great Patriotic War 
Storming the Fortress 
Conclusion