Best of
Russia

2010

The Ukrainian and Russian Notebooks: Life and Death Under Soviet Rule


Igort - 2010
    Now he brings those stories to new life with in-depth reporting and deep compassion. In The Russian Notebooks, Igort investigates the murder of award-winning journalist and human rights activist Anna Politkoyskaya. Anna spoke out frequently against the Second Chechen War, criticizing Vladimir Putin. For her work, she was detained, poisoned, and ultimately murdered. Igort follows in her tracks, detailing Anna’s assassination and the stories of abuse, murder, abduction, and torture that Russia was so desperate to censor. In The Ukrainian Notebooks, Igort reaches further back in history and illustrates the events of the 1932 Holodomor. Little known outside of the Ukraine, the Holodomor was a government-sanctioned famine, a peacetime atrocity during Stalin’s rule that killed anywhere from 1.8 to twelve million ethnic Ukrainians. Told through interviews with the people who lived through it, Igort paints a harrowing picture of hunger and cruelty under Soviet rule. With elegant brush strokes and a stark color palette, Igort has transcribed the words and emotions of his subjects, revealing their intelligence, humanity, and honesty—and exposing the secret world of the former USSR.

The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival


John Vaillant - 2010
    The tiger isn’t just killing people, it’s annihilating them, and a team of men and their dogs must hunt it on foot through the forest in the brutal cold. As the trackers sift through the gruesome remains of the victims, they discover that these attacks aren’t random: the tiger is apparently engaged in a vendetta. Injured, starving, and extremely dangerous, the tiger must be found before it strikes again.As he re-creates these extraordinary events, John Vaillant gives us an unforgettable portrait of this spectacularly beautiful and mysterious region. We meet the native tribes who for centuries have worshipped and lived alongside tigers, even sharing their kills with them. We witness the arrival of Russian settlers in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, soldiers and hunters who greatly diminished the tiger populations. And we come to know their descendants, who, crushed by poverty, have turned to poaching and further upset the natural balance of the region.This ancient, tenuous relationship between man and predator is at the very heart of this remarkable book. Throughout we encounter surprising theories of how humans and tigers may have evolved to coexist, how we may have developed as scavengers rather than hunters, and how early Homo sapiens may have fit seamlessly into the tiger’s ecosystem. Above all, we come to understand the endangered Siberian tiger, a highly intelligent super-predator that can grow to ten feet long, weigh more than six hundred pounds, and range daily over vast territories of forest and mountain.Beautifully written and deeply informative, The Tiger circles around three main characters: Vladimir Markov, a poacher killed by the tiger; Yuri Trush, the lead tracker; and the tiger himself. It is an absolutely gripping tale of man and nature that leads inexorably to a final showdown in a clearing deep in the taiga.

Tolstoy: A Russian Life


Rosamund Bartlett - 2010
    In this exceptional biography Rosamund Bartlett draws extensively on the many fascinating new sources which have been published about Tolstoy since the collapse of Communism to write about one of the most compelling, maddening, brilliant and contrary people who has ever lived. She and we discover a remarkable and long life in one of the most fascinating and turbulent periods of Russian history, straddling the 19th and early 20th centuries. Tolstoy spent that life rebelling - not only against conventional ideas about literature and art but against traditional education and eventually against family life, organised religion and the state.

When They Come for Us, We'll Be Gone: The Epic Struggle to Save Soviet Jewry


Gal Beckerman - 2010
    They lived a paradox--unwanted by a repressive Stalinist state, yet forbidden to leave. "When They Come for Us, We'll Be Gone" is the astonishing and inspiring story of their rescue.Journalist Gal Beckerman draws on newly released Soviet government documents as well as hundreds of oral interviews with refuseniks, activists, Zionist "hooligans," and Congressional staffers. He shows not only how the movement led to a mass exodus in 1989, but also how it shaped the American Jewish community, giving it a renewed sense of spiritual purpose and teaching it to flex its political muscle. He also makes a convincing case that the movement put human rights at the center of American foreign policy for the very first time, helping to end the Cold War.In cinematic detail, the book introduces us to all the major players, from the flamboyant Meir Kahane, head of the paramilitary Jewish Defense League, to Soviet refusenik Natan Sharansky, who labored in a Siberian prison camp for over a decade, to Lynn Singer, the small, fiery Long Island housewife who went from organizing local rallies to strong-arming Soviet diplomats. This multi-generational saga, filled with suspense and packed with revelations, provides an essential missing piece of Cold War and Jewish history.

Danzig Baldaev: Drawings from the Gulag


Danzig Baldaev - 2010
    Baldaev's father, a respected ethnographer, taught him techniques to record the tattoos of criminals in St. Petersburg's notorious Kresty prison, where Danzig worked as a guard. He was reported to the K.G.B. who unexpectedly offered support for his work, allowing him the opportunity to travel across the former U.S.S.R. Witnessing scenes of everyday life in the Gulag, he chronicled this previously closed world from both sides of the wire. With every vignette, Baldaev brings the characters he depicts to vivid life: from the lowest zek (inmate) to the most violent tattooed vor (thief), all the practices and inhabitants of the Gulag system are depicted here in incredible and often shocking detail. In documenting the attitude of the authorities to those imprisoned, and the transformation of these citizens into survivors or victims of the Gulag system, this graphic novel vividly depicts methods of torture and mass murder undertaken by the administration, as well as the atrocities committed by criminals upon their fellow inmates.Danzig Baldaev was born in 1925 in Ulan-Ude, Buryatiya, Russia. In 1948, after serving in the army in World War II, he was ordered by the N.K.V.D. to work as a warden in the infamous Leningrad prison, Kresty, where he started drawing the tattoos of criminals. His collection of drawings, which he made in different reformatory settlements for criminals all over the former U.S.S.R. over a period of more than 50 years, have been published by Fuel in three volumes, in the bestselling Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopaedia series.

The Crimean War: A History


Orlando Figes - 2010
    Less well-known is that this savage war (1853-1856) killed almost a million soldiers and countless civilians; that it enmeshed four great empires—the British, French, Turkish, and Russian—in a battle over religion as well as territory; that it fixed the fault lines between Russia and the West; that it set in motion the conflicts that would dominate the century to come.In this masterly history, Orlando Figes reconstructs the first full conflagration of modernity, a global industrialized struggle fought with unusual ferocity and incompetence. Drawing on untapped Russian and Ottoman as well as European sources, Figes vividly depicts the world at war, from the palaces of St. Petersburg to the holy sites of Jerusalem; from the young Tolstoy reporting in Sevastopol to Tsar Nicolas, haunted by dreams of religious salvation; from the ordinary soldiers and nurses on the battlefields to the women and children in towns under siege..Original, magisterial, alive with voices of the time, The Crimean War is a historical tour de force whose depiction of ethnic cleansing and the West's relations with the Muslim world resonates with contemporary overtones. At once a rigorous, original study and a sweeping, panoramic narrative, The Crimean War is the definitive account of the war that mapped the terrain for today's world..

Let Our Fame Be Great: Journeys Among the Defiant People of the Caucasus


Oliver Bullough - 2010
    The Caucasus had to be conquered and, for the highlanders, life would never be the same again. This title features author's journeys who intended to hear the stories of the conquest.

The Wolves of Bilaya Forest


Anthony Marra - 2010
    Vera Pavlova has lived long enough to know that when this happens and they begin to howl, it means the approach of hunger, the threat of starvation, and the onset of desperation. The woods loom large as Vera grapples with the truth about, and her justification of, what she did to her own mother. And now—as the men cut and package their drugs in her house once a week—what she has done to her own daughter.Anthony Marra is an M.F.A. candidate at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. His piece was chosen, out of hundreds of stories, as the first place winner in The Atlantic’s 2009 Student Writing Contest. His fiction has also appeared in Narrative.

Jewels of the Romanovs: Family Court


Stefano Papi - 2010
    The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were a time of particular elegance and extravagance for the tsars and the wealthy families with whom they were linked by marriage, and nowhere are these lavish tastes more apparent than in the imperial jewels.Every jewel tells a story. Through his work at Sotheby’s and Christie’s and his own extensive research, Stefano Papi has spent years unraveling the mysteries of Russian imperial jewelry. He identifies pieces with little or unknown provenance, and he uncovers the fascinating stories behind the jewels and the people who wore them. He takes us through the golden years, and after the Revolution he follows the survivors of the Romanov line—and their jewelry—in European courts and in Paris, where many exiles sought refuge.

The Russian Word's Worth: A Humorous and Informative Guide to Russian Language, Culture, and Translation


Michele A. Berdy - 2010
    This cultural study cum dictionary is a must for English-language people interested in Russia and for Russians learning English.

Stroika with a London View


William B. Foreignerski - 2010
    Lighthearted read with tongue-in-cheek humour, this is a book that feels like a heart-to-heart with good vodka. It gives a voice to several million people who currently live in the UK, and will be of interest to both Brits and foreigners alike. The novel is built around experiences of one young man who leaves Latvia for the UK in search of work. Much like Stephen Clarke’s hero Paul West, the protagonist finds a new and exotic world, full of unexpected challenges. Much like Samuel Selvon’s Lonely Londoners, he encounters both highs and lows, and narrates his experiences in a rough and easy manner of a proletarian fed up with being a working class hero. And much like Adiga’s protagonist from The White Tiger, he observes with dark humour and compassion the life of the less privileged. Essentially a tale of culture shock, the book is like a necklace made of funny anecdotes on a string of a criminal plot. Upon his arrival in London, Will Foreignerski struggles to find a job. He is forced to busk on the underground for his rent and browse rubbish bins for food. Eventually, he finds a job in construction (hence the title of the novel – stroika means construction site in Russian). On one of his jobs, he is asked to do a shuttering for the concrete floor and later discovers that his employer has used it for hiding a dead body. What follows is an escalating tale of finding a place in a new strange world.

The Caucasus: An Introduction


Thomas de Waal - 2010
    Providing both historical background and an insightful analysis of the period after 1991, de Waal sheds light on how the region has been scarred by the tumultuous scramble for independence and the three major conflicts that broke out with the end of the Soviet Union--Nagorny Karabakh, Abkhazia, and South Ossetia. The book examines the region as a major energy producer and exporter; offers a compelling account of the Rose Revolution in Georgia, the rise of Mikheil Saakashvili, and the August 2008 war; and considers the failure of the South Caucasus, thus far, to become a single viable region. In addition, the book features a dozen or so "boxes" which provide brief snapshots of such fascinating side topics as the Kurds, Turkish-Armenian rapprochement, the promotion of the region as the "Soviet Florida," and the most famous of all Georgians, Stalin.The Caucasus delivers a vibrantly written and timely account of this turbulent region, one that will prove indispensable for all concerned with world politics. It is, as well, a stimulating read for armchair travelers and for anyone curious about far-flung corners of the world.

This Lamentable City: Poems of Polina Barskova


Polina Barskova - 2010
    Bilingual Edition. Translated from the Russian by Ilya Kaminsky. Polina Barskova's poems are a zesty paradoxical concoction: bawdy and erudite, elegant and raw, subtle and brazen. As Ilya Kaminsky attests in his introduction to THIS LAMENTABLE CITY, "Barskova is an elegiac poet who brings to her American readers a language formally inventive, worldly and humorous. One of her strengths is her ability to bring together strikingly erotic, sensual images...with a deep sense of history and culture.... In Russian, Barskova is a master of meter, rhyme, and alliteration, and...(w)hat comes across in English is the tonality of the poems, the clarity of her vocal play and images, her intricacy of address." Though her prize-winning books of poetry in Russian have earned an international reputation, and individual poems have appeared in prestigious journals and anthologies--for instance, in Contemporary Russian Poetry (Dalkey Archive, 2008) and An Anthology of Contemporary Russian Women Poets (Iowa, 2005)--this is the first book of Barskova's poems to be published in translation, in a handsome dual-language edition.Contents:To A.K. --Motherhood and childhood --Manuscript found by Natasha Rostova during the fire of Moscow --When someone dies --from "The discourse on the demise of Russian literature" --From Mad Vatslav's diary --Evening in Tsarskoe Selo --Summer physiological essay: wanderers --Moscow --Conjunction, and --A still life.

Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh: Essential Writings


Gillian Crow - 2010
    Arriving in Britain in 1949 he played a major part of ecumenical work and exerted a wide influence through his broadcasts, writings (he is the author of several spiritual classics), and reputation as a spiritual leader. His writings reflect both the essence of Orthodoxy and his own experience of the struggle to live Christianity on a daily basis.

HIV is God's Blessing: Rehabilitating Morality in Neoliberal Russia


Jarrett Zigon - 2010
    Russia has one of the fastest-growing rates of HIV infection in the world—80 percent from intravenous drug use—and the Church remains its only resource for fighting these diseases. Jarrett Zigon takes the reader into a Church-run treatment center where, along with self-transformational and religious approaches, he explores broader anthropological questions—of morality, ethics, what constitutes a “normal” life, and who defines it as such. Zigon argues that this rare Russian partnership between sacred and political power carries unintended consequences: even as the Church condemns the influence of globalization as the root of the problem it seeks to combat, its programs are cultivating citizen-subjects ready for self-governance and responsibility, and better attuned to a world the Church ultimately opposes.

I am a Chechen!


German Sadulaev - 2010
    He brings to life his friends - now reduced to pieces of flesh - revisiting their first loves, their passion for rock music, their quests for martyrdom. And he immerses us in the intoxicating beauty of his homeland's mountains, blossoms and the flocks of migratory swallows that fill its skies.I Am a Chechen! is an intensely personal journey through the carnage of the war, exploring the pain, the challenge, and above all the meaning of being a Chechen.

The Red Rockets' Glare: Spaceflight and the Russian Imagination, 1857-1957


Asif A. Siddiqi - 2010
    Based on many years of archival research, the book situates the birth of cosmic enthusiasm within the social and cultural upheavals of Russian and Soviet history. Asif A. Siddiqi frames the origins of Sputnik by bridging imagination with engineering - seeing them not as dialectic, discrete, and sequential but as mutable, intertwined, and concurrent. Imagination and engineering not only fed each other but were also co-produced by key actors who maintained a delicate line between secret work on rockets (which interested the military) and public prognostications on the cosmos (which captivated the populace). Sputnik, he argues, was the outcome of both large-scale state imperatives to harness science and technology and populist phenomena that frequently owed little to the whims and needs of the state apparatus.

Neighbours From Hell


Julian Rybarczyk - 2010
    Although now 70 years on, I still have vivid memories of my own experiences during this particularly cruel and difficult time. "Neighbours From Hell" is the story of how this event affected my family and tracks my journey from eastern Poland to Siberia and then beyond as events elsewhere dictated my destiny. Although written with just family in mind, I am happy to share my story with anyone interested.Julian Rybarczyk February 2010.

The Genius in Children: Bringing Out the Best in Your Child


Rick Ackerly - 2010
    The stories and advice in his first book THE GENIUS IN CHILDREN reveal a rare wisdom about children and the process of education. The value of this experience to hundreds of children, parents, and teachers derives from the depth of his perception and the subtlety of his understanding. He offers perspective and guidance on a wide range of challenges faced by parents of today's school-age children: First Day of School Self-confidence Discipline Boundary-Setting Building Character Integrity Taking Responsibility Facing Challenges Separating from Parents Getting into Trouble Handling Disappointment Friendship Bullying Peer Pressure Harassment Reading Testing Homework Academic Achievement Failure and Success Dyslexia and ADHD. The GENIUS IN CHILDREN is a must-read for parents who want to discover how to bring out the best in their children.

The Resurrection of the Romanovs: Anastasia, Anna Anderson, and the World's Greatest Royal Mystery


Greg King - 2010
    The Resurrection of the Romanovs draws on a wealth of new information from previously unpublished materials and unexplored sources to probe the most enduring Romanov mystery of all: the fate of the Tsar's youngest daughter, Anastasia, whose remains were not buried with those of her family, and her identification with Anna Anderson, the woman who claimed to be the missing Grand Duchess.Penetrates the intriguing mysteries surrounding the execution of Tsar Nicholas II and the true fate of his daughter, AnastasiaReveals previously unknown details of Anderson's life as Franziska SchanzkowskaExplains how Anderson acquired her knowledge, why people believed her claim, and how it transformed Anastasia into a cultural phenomenonDraws on unpublished materials including Schanzkowska family memoirs, legal papers, and exclusive access to private documents of the British and Hessian Royal FamiliesIncludes 75 photographs, dozens published here for the first timeWritten by the authors of The Fate of the RomanovsRefuting long-accepted evidence in the Anderson case, The Resurrection of the Romanovs finally explodes the greatest royal mystery of the twentieth-century.

The Cambridge Introduction to Chekhov


James N. Loehlin - 2010
    Russia's preeminent playwright, he played a significant role in revolutionizing the modern theatre. His impact on prose fiction writing is incalculable: he helped define the modern short story. Beginning with an engaging account of Chekhov's life and cultural context in nineteenth-century Russia, this book introduces the reader to this fascinating and complex personality. Unlike much criticism of Chekhov, it includes detailed discussions of both his fiction and his plays. The Introduction traces his concise, impressionistic prose style from early comic sketches to mature works such as 'Ward No. 6' and 'In the Ravine'. Examining Chekhov's development as a dramatist, the book considers his one-act vaudevilles and early works, while providing a detailed, act-by-act analysis of the masterpieces on which his reputation rests: The Seagull, Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters and The Cherry Orchard.

Memoirs of a Grandmother: Scenes from the Cultural History of the Jews of Russia in the Nineteenth Century, Volume One


Pauline Wengeroff - 2010
    Wengeroff, a gifted writer and astute social observer, paints a rich portrait of both traditional and modernizing Jewish societies in an extraordinary way, focusing on women and the family and offering a gendered account (and indictment) of assimilation.In Volume 1 of Memoirs of a Grandmother, Wengeroff depicts traditional Jewish society, including the religious culture of women, during the reign of Tsar Nicholas I, who wished "his" Jews to be acculturated to modern Russian life.

25 Chapters of My Life


Olga Alexandrovna - 2010
    The Grand Duchess Olga records her life with an artist's eye for detail, against the backdrop of the historical events which shook the world.

The Death of Ivan Ilyich, the Kreutzer Sonata, and Other Stories


Leo Tolstoy - 2010
    Petersburg. This is a masterpiece of Tolstoy's late fiction and many people have different interpretation on its end. The Kreutzer Sonata was published in 1889 and immediately censored by the Russian government. The work is related to sexual abstinence. The other stories included are Ivan the Fool, A Lost Opportunity, Polikushka or the Lot of a Wicked Court Servant, and The Candle.

The Battle Of The Berezina: Napoleon's Great Escape


Alexander Mikaberidze - 2010
    By late November Napoleon had reached the banks of the River Berezina - the last natural obstacle between his army and the safety of the Polish frontier. But instead of finding the river frozen solid enough to march his men across, an unseasonable thaw had turned the Berezina into an icy torrent. Having already ordered the burning of his bridging equipment, Napoleon's predicament was serious enough: but with the army of Admiral Chichagov holding the opposite bank, and those of Kutusov and Wittgenstein closing fast, it was critical. Only a miracle could save him ... In a gripping narrative Alexander Mikaberidze describes how Napoleon rose from the pit of despair to the peak of his powers in order to achieve that miracle. Drawing on contemporary sources - letters, diaries, memoirs - he recreates one of the greatest escapes in military history - a story often half-told in general histories of the Russian campaign but never before fully explored.242 pages of narrative, 284 pages in total

Shattering Empires: The Clash and Collapse of the Ottoman and Russian Empires 1908- 1918


Michael A. Reynolds - 2010
    The unravelling of these empires was both cause and consequence of World War I and resulted in the deaths of millions. It irrevocably changed the landscape of the Middle East and Eurasia and reverberates to this day in conflicts throughout the Caucasus and Middle East. Shattering Empires draws on extensive research in the Ottoman and Russian archives to tell the story of the rivalry and collapse of two great empires. Overturning accounts that portray their clash as one of conflicting nationalisms, this pioneering study argues that geopolitical competition and the emergence of a new global interstate order provide the key to understanding the course of history in the Ottoman-Russian borderlands in the twentieth century. It will appeal to those interested in Middle Eastern, Russian, and Eurasian history, international relations, ethnic conflict, and World War I.

Tolstoy's Diaries Volume 2: 1895-1910


Leo Tolstoy - 2010
    F. Christian's editions of Tolstoy's Diaries and Letters, both in two volumes, are definitive. Volume 1 of the Diaries covers the years 1847-1894, and Volume 2 the years 1895-1910. Passages have been chosen to reflect Tolstoy's preoccupations as a writer - his views on his own work and that of others - and his development as a person and as a thinker. The passages also show his attitude to contemporary social problems, rural life, industrialisation, education, and later, to religious and spiritual questions.R. F. Christian has grouped the diary entries chronologically, introducing each period with a brief and informative summary of the main biographical details of Tolstoy's life. The result is something much more than source material for Tolstoy's life and thought, though it could hardly be richer in that respect, it is a unique, direct and unhindered portrait of a great man and a very great writer in the variegation of his everyday existence.'As a picture of the turbulent Russian world which Tolstoy inhabited these diaries are incomparable - the raw stuff not yet processed into art.' Anthony Burgess'Professor Christian's work, a fitting companion to his two-volume edition of the Letters, is an important and long-overdue contribution to our knowledge of Tolstoy.' D. M. Thomas, Sunday Times'What Professor R. F. Christian has done is to provide us with a huge two-volume digest, punctiliously edited and translated . . . It is a model of scholarship, one of the most important books to be published in recent years.' A. N. Wilson, The Spectator'R. F. Christian's engagement for some fifteen years with (Tolstoy's) letters and diaries has been a notable service to the English-speaking public.' Henry Gifford, Times Literary Supplement

Soviet & Russian Ekranoplans


Yefim Gordon - 2010
    In the years that have elapsed since then new developments have taken place in this field both in Russia and in other countries. New projects have emerged; some of them have been built and tested in prototype form, while others represent prospective studies awaiting their implementation. The book will take into account these new projects, as well as provide new information of historical character that has become available in the recent years. The book presents a brief outline of the basic concept of wing-in-ground effect (WIG) vehicles, or ekranoplans, followed by a short review of the development of this concept from theory to viable technical solutions. The major part of the book will be devoted to the type-by-type description of specific designs of ekranoplans developed in the Soviet Union and present-day Russia in the course of half a century"

Pimsleur Russian Level 1 Lessons 1-5: Learn to Speak and Understand Russian with Pimsleur Language Programs


Pimsleur Language Programs - 2010
    You’ll learn vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation together through conversation. And our scientifically proven program will help you remember what you’ve learned, so you can put it into action. Why Pimsleur? • Quick + Easy – Only 30 minutes a day. • Portable + Flexible – Core lessons can be done anytime, anywhere, and easily fit into your busy life. • Proven Method – Works when other methods fail. • Self-Paced – Go fast or go slow – it’s up to you. • Based in Science – Developed using proven research on memory and learning. • Cost-effective – Less expensive than classes or immersion, and features all native speakers. • Genius – Triggers your brain’s natural aptitude to learn. • Works for everyone – Recommended for ages 13 and above. What’s Included? • 5, 30-minute audio lessons, • In total, 2.5 hours of audio, all featuring native speakers What You’ll Learn This course includes Lessons 1-5 from the Russian Level 1 program featuring 2.5 hours of language instruction. Each lesson provides 30 minutes of spoken language practice, with an introductory conversation, and new vocabulary and structures. Detailed instructions enable you to understand and participate in the conversation. Practice for vocabulary introduced in previous lessons is included in each lesson. The emphasis is on pronunciation and comprehension, and on learning to speak Russian. Whether you want to travel, communicate with friends or colleagues, reconnect with family, or just understand more of what’s going on in the world around you, Pimsleur will help you learn Russian and expand your horizons and enrich your life.

Fabergé’s Animals: A Royal Farm in Miniature


Caroline de Guitaut - 2010
    Domestic or wild, each creature was to be rendered in hardstone adorned with rose diamonds, emeralds, and rubies by the celebrated Russian goldsmith and jeweler, whose name was already synonymous the world over with opulence and grandeur.Fabergé’s Animals takes the reader on a dazzling tour of the Sandringham commission—the largest collection of Fabergé’s hardstone animal carvings in existence. The book brings the magic of this miniature menagerie to life with photographs, sketches, and other documentary material—some never before seen—from both the Russian and royal archives. Along with a historical introduction to the royal patronage behind the commission, this stunning volume includes information on Fabergé's workshops and carvers, and the materials and special techniques they employed.With more than 150 lavish full-color photographs—many newly commissioned—Fabergé’s Animals is a resplendently beautiful book.

Top 10 Moscow


Matthew Willis - 2010
    The guidebook includes sections that cover all the popular tourist sights, including The Kremlin and Red Square, Kitay Gorod, Arbatskaya, Tverskaya, and Zamoskvorechve. You'll find the insider knowledge you need to explore this city with DK Eyewitness Travel Guide: Top 10 Moscow and its free pull-out map.

Post-Imperium: A Eurasian Story


Dmitri Trenin - 2010
    Tensions with Ukraine and other nearby countries. Moscow's bid to consolidate its "zone of privileged interests" among the Commonwealth of Independent States. These volatile situations all raise questions about the nature of and prospects for Russia's relations with its neighbors.In this book, Carnegie scholar Dmitri Trenin argues that Moscow needs to drop the notion of creating an exclusive power center out of the post-Soviet space. Like other former European empires, Russia will need to reinvent itself as a global player and as part of a wider community.Trenin's vision of Russia is an open Euro-Pacific country that is savvy in its use of soft power and fully reconciled with its former borderlands and dependents. He acknowledges that this scenario may sound too optimistic but warns that the alternative is not a new version of the historic empire but instead is the ultimate marginalization of Russia.

After Defeat


Ayşe Zarakol - 2010
    Drawing on constructivism as well as the insights of social theorists and philosophers, After Defeat demonstrates that stigmatization in international relations can lead to a sense of national shame, as well as auto-Orientalism and inferior status. Ayşe Zarakol argues that stigmatized states become extra-sensitive to concerns about status, and shape their foreign policy accordingly. The theoretical argument is supported by a detailed historical overview of central examples of the established/outsider dichotomy throughout the evolution of the modern states system, and in-depth studies of Turkey after the First World War, Japan after the Second World War, and Russia after the Cold War.

The Chechen Struggle: Independence Won and Lost


Ilyas Akhmadov - 2010
    Ilyas Akhmadov delivers a comprehensive history of the first war against Russia, the crises within Chechen society, the splintering and radicalization of the Chechen leadership, the incursions into Dagestan, and his own efforts to bring about peace. The book shows the impossible dilemma of the moderate nationalists in post-Soviet societies, who are challenged by radical Islamic ideology, social deprivations, Russian aggression, and international neglect.  By giving voice to the moderates, the book seeks to shift the balance in their favor.

Allah's Angels: Chechen Women in War


Paul J. Murphy - 2010
    His book covers the two wars with Russia in 1994 and 1999 and the present conflict with Islamic Jihadists. It argues that these wars forced Chechen women to venture far beyond their traditional roles and advance their human rights but that the current movement championing traditional Islam is taking those rights away. Drawing on personal interviews, insider resources, and other materials, Murphy presents powerful portrayals of women who fight in the Chechen Jihad, including snipers, suicide bombers and the mysterious Black Widows, as well as women who collect intelligence, hide arms, and perform other non-combatant roles.

The Correspondence Of The Empress Alexandra Of Russia With Ernst Ludwig And Eleonore, Grand Duke And Duchess Of Hesse. 1878 1916


Petra H. Kleinpenning - 2010
    

Yashka, My Life as Peasant, Exile and Soldier


Maria Bochkareva - 2010
    There may be numerous typos or missing text. There are no illustrations or indexes. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. You can also preview the book there.

Children of the Gulag


Cathy A. Frierson - 2010
    When parents were arrested, executed, or sent to the Gulag, their children also suffered. Millions of children, labeled "socially dangerous," lost parents, homes, and siblings. Co-edited by Cathy A. Frierson, a senior American scholar, and Semyon S. Vilensky, Gulag survivor and compiler of the Russian documents, the book offers documentary and personal perspectives.  The editors present top-secret documents in translation from the Russian state archives, memoirs, and interviews with child survivors. The editors' narrative reveals how such prolonged child victimization could occur, who knew about it, and who tried to intervene on the children’s behalf. The editors show how the emotions from childhood trauma persist into the twenty-first century, passing from victims to their children and grandchildren. Interviews with child survivors also display their resilient ability to fashion productive lives despite family destruction and stigma.

The Origins of the World War, Vol 2: After Sarajevo


Sidney Bradshaw Fay - 2010
    Volume 1 is "Before Sarajevo - Underlying Causes of the War." Volume 2 is "After Sarajevo - Immediate Causes of the War." By "Before Sarajevo," it is meant before the assassination in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914 of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary. This volume two starts with the Serbian Plot to Assassinate the Archduke and continues to the mobilizations in France and Germany on August 1, 1914. Unlike some other authors, Sidney Fay believes that the assassination of the Archduke was part of the plot by the Black Hand. Others, however, state that the assassination was a coincidence caused by a wrong turn by a driver and that there is no proof that the assassin was part of the Black Hand. This book deals with the incredible series of events in which in only 37 days after the assassination of the Archduke and his wife Sophie, Germany invaded both Belgium and France. These events have ever since been studied by career diplomats, seeking to learn the reasons for this so as to try to prevent another pointless war like this one from happening.

Deportation, Its Meaning and Menace; Last Message to the People of America


Alexander Berkman - 2010
    This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.

The Tale of Baboushka: A Traditional Christmas Story


Elena Pasquali - 2010
    The late night arrival of three travelers at her cottage door interrupts her domestic routine of cleaning and polishing, and although she gives them excellent hospitality, she is relieved that they plan to travel on the following day. When the men explain that they are in search of a newborn king, Baboushka wonders whether to join them, but does not want to leave the house in a mess. Only later, when she sees the star and hears angels singing, does she realize she made the wrong choice. She hurries to take her own gift to the king but cannot find him. Tradition has it that she searches still, and wherever she hears the sound of children in a house, she leaves a secret gift.

Pilgrims on the Silk Road: A Muslim-Christian Encounter in Khiva


Walter R. Ratliff - 2010
    They found themselves in the care of a Muslim king. During the 1880s, Mennonites from Russia made a treacherous journey to the Silk Road kingdom of Khiva. Both Uzbek and Mennonite history seemed to set the stage for ongoing religious and ethnic discord. Yet their story became an example of friendship and cooperation between Muslims and Christians. Pilgrims on the Silk Road challenges conventional wisdom about the trek to Central Asia and the settlement of Ak Metchet. It shows how the story, long associated with failed End Times prophecies, is being recast in light of new evidence. Pilgrims highlights the role of Ak Metchet as a refuge for those fleeing Soviet oppression, and the continuing influence of the episode more than twelve decades later. Endorsements: "Walter Ratliff's history of the Mennonite Great Trek to Central Asia offers a new angle of vision upon one of the most remarkable events of Mennonite history. Pilgrims on the Silk Road puts the Great Trek into the context of nineteenth-century imperial rivalry and of the Russian conquest of Khiva. The author tells tales of Muslim-Christian cooperation that resonate with meaning in our twenty-first century of religious polarization. Ratliff's perspective is revisionist without being contentious. I hope this book will find a wide readership." -James Juhnke, Bethel College, Emeritus "In Pilgrims on the Silk Road, Ratliff has brought to light a fascinating but little known chapter in the history of European involvement in Central Asia, along the silk road. His portrait of the Mennonite mission to Khiva makes for great reading and an excellent companion to such classic works as Peter Hopkirk's The Great Game." -Charles M. Stang, Harvard Divinity School Author Biography: Walter Ratliff is a journalist and religion scholar from Washington, DC. He holds degrees from Georgetown University, Wheaton College, and the University of New Mexico. He is the producer/director of the documentary "Through the Desert Goes Our Journey" (2008).

Kiev, Jewish Metropolis: A History, 1859-1914


Natan M. Meir - 2010
    Kiev, Jewish Metropolis limns the history of Kiev Jewry from the official readmission of Jews to the city in 1859 to the outbreak of World War I. It explores the Jewish community's politics, its leadership struggles, socioeconomic and demographic shifts, religious and cultural sensibilities, and relations with the city's Christian population. Drawing on archival documents, the local press, memoirs, and belles lettres, Natan M. Meir shows Kiev's Jews at work, at leisure, in the synagogue, and engaged in the activities of myriad Jewish organizations and philanthropies.

Police Aesthetics: Literature, Film, and the Secret Police in Soviet Times


Cristina Vatulescu - 2010
    Police Aesthetics offers a revealing and responsible approach to such materials. Taking advantage of the partial opening of the secret police archives in Russia and Romania, Vatulescu focuses on their most infamous holdings—the personal files—as well as on movies the police sponsored, scripted, or authored. Through the archives, she gains new insights into the writing of literature and raises new questions about the ethics of reading. She shows how police files and films influenced literature and cinema, from autobiographies to novels, from high-culture classics to avant-garde experiments and popular blockbusters. In so doing, she opens a fresh chapter in the heated debate about the relationship between culture and politics in twentieth-century police states.

The Invasion Of The Crimea: Its Origin And An Account Of Its Progress Down To The Death Of Lord Raglan. Volume 1


Alexander William Kinglake - 2010
    This Elibron Classics book is a facsimile reprint of a 1863 edition by William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh and London.

Confronting Dostoevsky's "Demons": Anarchism and the Specter of Bakunin in Twentieth-Century Russia


James Goodwin - 2010
    Originally inspired by a minor conspiratorial episode of the late 1860s, well after Dostoevsky's death (1881) the work continued to earn both acclaim and contempt for its scathing caricature of revolutionists driven by destructive, anarchic aims. The text of Demons assumed new meaning in Russian literary culture following the Bolshevik triumph of 1917, when the reestablishment and expansion of centralized state power inevitably revived interest in the radical populist tendencies of Russia's past, in particular the anarchist thought of Dostoevsky's legendary contemporary, Mikhail Bakunin (1814-1876). Confronting Dostoevsky's 'Demons' is the first book to explore the life of Dostoevsky's novel in light of disputes and controversies over Bakunin's troubling legacy in Russia. Contrary to the traditional view, which assumes the obsolescence of Demons throughout much of the Communist period (1917-1991), this book demonstrates that the potential resurgence of Bakuninist thought actually encouraged reassessments of Dostoevsky's novel. By exploring the different ideas and critical strategies that motivated opposing interpretations of the novel in post-revolutionary Russia, Confronting Dostoevsky's 'Demons' reveals how the potential resurrection of Bakunin's anti-authoritarian ethos fostered the return of a politically reactionary novel to the canon of Russian classics.

After the Fall: War and Occupation in Irene Nemirovsky's Suite Franaise


Nathan Bracher - 2010
    A Jewish Russian immigrant who had achieved literary stardom during the twenty years she lived in France, N�mirovsky wrote her novel during the first years of the Occupation, before she was deported by the Nazis to Auschwitz, where she died in 1942. When published, the book produced an immediate international sensation and has since been translated into more than twenty-five languages. While giving rise to a certain amount of controversy, the novel has been widely acclaimed as a literary masterpiece providing a devastating portrayal of France's defeat and occupation. In this work, the first critical monograph on Suite fran�aise, Nathan Bracher shows how, first amid the chaos and panic of the May-June 1940 debacle, and then within the unsettling new order of the German occupation, N�mirovsky's novel casts a particularly revealing light on the behavior and attitudes of the French as well as on the highly problematic interaction of France's social classes. It offers valuable insights on a number of subjects (in particular, the civilian exodus, the relations of French women with German soldiers, and socio-economic conflicts under the Occupation) that, until now, have been too often neglected or misunderstood, while at the same time displaying a striking originality when compared to other discourses and narratives dating from the same period. Bracher dispels a number of misconceptions that have arisen when Suite fran�aise has been assessed on the basis of biographical presumptions or with respect to current imperatives of the "duty to remember." Instead of viewing Suite fran�aise as a source of information about the author or as a simple instrument of memory, we can best understand the novel, Bracher argues, as a specifically configured literary text whose voice can engage its readers in a critical dialogue with the dramatic era of the catastrophic fall of France and the ensuing Occupation. Contrary to certain polemical interpretations, Bracher shows that N�mirovsky's searing novel not only makes a mockery of Vichy ideology but even adumbrates an ethic of resistance.ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Nathan Bracher is professor of French at Texas A&M University and author of Through the Past Darkly: History and Memory in Fran�ois Mauriac's Bloc-notes. FROM THE BOOK: "It is well known that human beings are complex, multi-faceted, contradictory, and full of surprises, but it takes a time of war or great upheaval in order to see it. That is the most fascinating and the most terrible spectacle, she thought. The most terrible because it it the most real: you cannot take it for granted that you know the sea without having seen it during a storm as well as during calm weather. The person who knows men and women is somebody who has observed them during an era such as this one, she thought. Only such people know themselves." -- From Ir�ne N�mirovsky, Suite fran�aise PRAISE FOR THE BOOK:"A timely exploration of N�mirovsky's literary contribution in Suite fran�aise. Nathan Bracher shows how N�mirovsky's fictional narrative intersects with existing historical research and makes insightful comparisons with the texts of other contemporary writers. Bracher convincingly takes on N�mirovsky's critics as well as providing an engaging discussion of her narrative techniques and influences. The book will be of interest to all N�mirovsky scholars." --Hanna Diamond, Reader in French History, University of Bath"After the Fall returns us to the panic and anxieties of 1940 and the months that followed when it was not apparent that Germany would lose the war or that the harsh conditions of life would soon end. Bracher is sensitive to gender showing how as a woman N�mirovsky u

Just Assassins: The Culture of Terrorism in Russia


Nina Khrushcheva - 2010
    The broad range of writers and scholars have contributed work that examines Russian literature, film, and theater; historical narrative; and even amateur memoir, songs, and poetry posted on the Internet. Along with editor Anthony Anemone’s introduction, these essays chart the evolution of modern political terrorism in Russia, from the Decembrist uprising to the horrific school siege in Beslan in 2004. As terrorism and the fear of terrorism continues to animate, shape, and deform public policy and international relations across the globe, Just Assassins brings into focus how Russia’s cultural engagement with its legacy of terrorism offers instructive lessons and insights for anyone concerned about political terror.

The Jewish Persona in the European Imagination: A Case of Russian Literature


Leonid Livak - 2010
    Through new readings of canonical Russian literary texts by Gogol, Turgenev, Chekhov, Babel, and others, the author argues that these European writers—Christian, secular, and Jewish—based their representation of Jews on the Christian exegetical tradition of anti-Judaism. Indeed, Livak disputes the classification of some Jewish writers as belonging to "Jewish literature," arguing that such an approach obscures these writers' debt to European literary traditions and their ambivalence about their Jewishness. This work seeks to move the study of Russian literature, and Russian-Jewish literature in particular, down a new path. It will stir up controversy around Christian-Jewish cultural interaction; the representation of otherness in European arts and folklore; modern Jewish experience; and Russian literature and culture.

Directory of World Cinema: Russia


Birgit BeumersJoan Neuberger - 2010
    From Sergei Eisenstein’s anti-tsarist drama, The Battleship Potemkin, to socialist realism, to the post-glasnost thematic explosion, this volume explores the sociopolitical impact of the cinema of Russia and the former Soviet Union. Introductory essays establish key players and situate important genres within their cultural and industrial milieus, while reviews and case studies analyze individual titles in considerable depth. For the film studies scholar, or for all those who love Russian cinema and want to learn more, Directory of World Cinema: Russia will be an essential companion.

Anton: A Young Boy, His Friend and the Russian Revolution


Dale Eisler - 2010
    Together with his friend, he slowly begins to grasp the truth of his life in a small, German-speaking village on the Russian steppes. The two share a friendship deepened by the misery they endure in an adult world gone mad.What people are saying about Anton:"A beautiful, gripping story of the dark side of the Bolshevik Revolution. The reader is immediately immersed in the horror of the Revolution, the redeeming power of friendship and courage, and the promise of opportunity in a new land." -- Tucker Hart Adams, former professor of economics, University of Moscow."A story of simple and lasting friendship that moves from the Black Sea through the Russian Revolution and horrors of the Great War to the mud huts of Saskatchewan. Leon Trotsky is here, as is John Carter -- but the characters the reader will never forget are Anton and Kaza." -- Roy MacGregor, author, columnist The Globe and Mail, Toronto. "An arresting, imaginative work by a gifted and sophisticated writer." -- Tom Farer, dean, Josef Korbel School of International Studies, University of Denver."Anton is a fascinating glimpse into a little-known period of history. It is also a fabulous story. I recommend it highly." -- Douglas Brown, Denver Post."A wonderful book ... a terrific novel. Buy one for yourself. You'll be glad you did." -- Charles Stroh, Western Michigan University. "Eisler has a Tolstoy-like ability to get inside his characters." -- Dr. Mary Conroy, professor of Russian history."A perfect marriage of insight and history. As a reader, I felt as if Eisler reached into my mind and revealed that I already know the universal human truth." --Saskatchewan Publishers Group.

Dacha Idylls: Living Organically in Russia's Countryside


Melissa Caldwell - 2010
    Simultaneously beloved and reviled, dachas wield a power that makes owning and caring for them an essential part of life. In this book, Melissa L. Caldwell captures the dacha’s abiding traditions and demonstrates why Russians insist that these dwellings are key to understanding Russian life. She draws on literary texts as well as observations from dacha dwellers to highlight this enduring fact of Russian culture at a time when so much has changed. Caldwell presents the dacha world in all its richness and complexity—a “good life” that draws inspiration from the natural environment in which it is situated.

Anti-Jewish Violence: Rethinking the Pogrom in East European History


Jonathan Dekel-Chen - 2010
    Incorporating newly available primary sources, this collection of groundbreaking essays by researchers from Europe, the United States, and Israel investigates the phenomenon of anti-Jewish violence, the local and transnational responses to pogroms, and instances where violence was averted. Focusing on the period from World War I through Russia's early revolutionary years, the studies include Poland, Ukraine, Belorussia, Lithuania, Crimea, and Siberia.

Russian Swear Words: A Systematic Guide to Fluent Russian Swearing


Vovan Otradniy - 2010
    It's probably packed full of words, despite the poor organization. However, as any native Russian speaker will tell you, 80% of those words are hardly used. Other books are funny but of little practical value when it comes to actually understanding and mastering swearing in Russian. This book is different in that it presents an organized, precise system that will enable you to swear using words that are actually used. Most Russian swear words come from just a few base words; if those can be mastered, the whole logic of swearing in Russian can be understood. Explanations, labeled stress, grammar and plenty of examples inside. Ability to read Russian is required.

Petersburg/Petersburg: Novel and City, 1900–1921


Olga Matich - 2010
    While Tsar Peter the Great planned the streetscapes of Russia’s northern capital as a contrast to the muddy and crooked streets of Moscow, Andrei Bely’s novel Petersburg (1916), a cornerstone of Russian modernism and the culmination of the “Petersburg myth” in Russian culture, takes issue with the city’s premeditated and supposedly rational character in the early twentieth century.    “Petersburg”/Petersburg studies the book and the city against and through each other. It begins with new readings of the novel—as a detective story inspired by bomb-throwing terrorists, as a representation of the aversive emotion of disgust, and as a painterly avant-garde text—stressing the novel’s phantasmagoric and apocalyptic vision of the city. Taking a cue from Petersburg’s narrator, the rest of this volume (and the companion Web site, stpetersburg.berkeley.edu/) explores the city from vantage points that have not been considered before—from its streetcars and iconic art-nouveau office buildings to the slaughterhouse on the city fringes. From poetry and terrorist memoirs, photographs and artwork, maps and guidebooks of that period, the city emerges as a living organism, a dreamworld in flux, and a junction of modernity and modernism.

Reconceptualizing the Industrial Revolution


Jeff Horn - 2010
    This collection of essays offers new perspectives on the Industrial Revolution as a global phenomenon. The fifteen contributors go beyond the longstanding view of industrialization as a linear process marked by discrete stages. Instead, they examine a lengthy and creative period in the history of industrialization, 1750 to 1914, reassessing the nature of and explanations for England's industrial primacy, and comparing significant industrial developments in countries ranging from China to Brazil. Each chapter explores a distinctive national production ecology, a complex blend of natural resources, demographic pressures, cultural impulses, technological assets, and commercial practices. At the same time, the chapters also reveal the portability of skilled workers and the permeability of political borders. The Industrial Revolution comes to life in discussions of British eagerness for stylish, middle-class products; the Enlightenment's contribution to European industrial growth; early America's incremental (rather than revolutionary) industrialization; the complex connections between Czarist and Stalinist periods of industrial change in Russia; Japan's late and rapid turn to mechanized production; and Brazil's industrial-financial boom. By exploring unique national patterns of industrialization as well as reciprocal exchanges and furtive borrowing among these states, the book refreshes the discussion of early industrial transformations and raises issues still relevant in today's era of globalization.

Danse Macabre: Memoir Of A Polish Girl At The Time Of The Russian Revolution (1914-1924)


Irene Rochas - 2010
    Irene Rochas was born Aniela Tarnowicz in Warsaw in 1908, the youngest child in a large upper middle-class Polish family. With the outbreak of World War I in 1914, Irene and her family were stranded in Moscow, and with the further outbreak of the Bolshevik Revolution, they were able to return to their homeland only after a delay of four years. Irene's rediscovered narrative - written when she was fifty years old and set in the form of a novel - is a remembrance of those eventful years of her childhood in Moscow and Warsaw. In this sense, it is truly a "memoir," but, as the reader will see, it is also much more than that. Yes, "danse macabre" is the dance of death, the last waltz to which we are all invited. But Irene's "Danse Macabre" - with its inquisitive and empathetic tone... and its often searing imagery - is less a rumination on the inevitability of death and more a testament to the vibrancy of life itself. [339 pp., 27 plates]