Read Bloodlands First

I tried to read Black Earth: The Holocaust as History and Warning by Timothy Snyder and put it down at least twice.  Although interesting, I found it thematically repetitive   A much shorter work could have packed more punch.  I suggest you first read his Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin (which he wrote first) which is in many ways a more accomplished and complete work.  Then Black Earth will have a firmer context.