The year I read it will give you an idea of at least when it was published (i.e. before that). Contact me if you recognize any of these books.
A novel about a man (a Canadian?) whose wife is chronically ill. The wife falls for a man who fought in the Spanish Civil War. Either that or the husband fought in the Spanish Civil War. I read it during my high school English class, which would have been 1996 or before.
A history of the Soviet Union, detailing the dire circumstances of the people. I read it as part of a history of the Soviet Union in university, sometime 2000-1 or so.