From Simon & Schuster, Conversations with Joseph Brodsky is Solomon Volkov's exploration of a poet's journey through the 20th century.A portrait of Nobel Prize-winning poet Joseph Brodskey is painted through fifteen years of interviews with the author, depicting his childhood years in war-torn Leningrad, his time in Kruschev's Russia, and his love of the work of fellow poets Auden and Frost.

    It includes over 600 images of costumes, official regalia portraits, books, icons and jewellery belonging to, or associated with, the imperial family. In addition, the book contains previously unpublished documentary material from the State Archive in Moscow: diaries of the tsar's family, their photo albums, letters and personal memorabilia, as well as historical documents relating to the family's murder. In the words of Dr Mikhail Piotrovsky, Director of the Hermitage, Nicholas & Alexandra 'presents the final chapter of tsarist Russia as it's never been told before.'

    An account of the life of the wife of the Grand Duke Serge of Russia, and her role in the politics and personal intrigue of her day.

    In these essays he sketches a portrait of the darkest hours faced by the fledgling revolution, and defends the red terror against abstract criticisms as a regrettable, though unavoidable, product of horrible circumstances.

    It also recounts the lives of the Tsar's children from his controversial second marriage - to his mistress, Catherine Dolgorouky - of whom the youngest, Catherine, lived in England for several years and died in 1959. The collapse of the dynasty, the Russian revolution and execution of several members of the family are thus seen through the eyes of the surviving sons and daughters of the Tsar Liberator.

    In addition to analyzing Soviet women combatants' contributions to World War II effort, the books offer substantial detail and commentary on the state of the Red Army throughout its development, the essential social context within which it evolved, and the course of its military operations. The series provide new valuable insights on the Red Army and Soviet State in general, and on the human condition in the Soviet Union in particular. The books are intended for both academic and general readers interested in Russia's history and politics, and their impact on the modern world at large.

    In eight days his native Poland would be invaded by the Germans. Shortly after that, the Russians rolled in under the Hitler-Stalin pact, and when Topolski tried to sneak across the border into Romania, he was captured by Soviet border guards. Thus began a more than two-year-long ordeal through the Soviet Union's outrageously absurd penal system. Writing with an unexpected sense of humor and irony and an almost superhuman capacity for recalling fascinating details, Topolski recounts the fight for survival in the gulag. Mendacious NKVD officers, whimsical pickpockets, ruthless youth gang members, wise political prisoners, Polish patriots, unfortunate Uzbechs and countless other unforgettable characters populate this often raucous odyssey. "But it's not for our brains to ponder these things," someone along Topolski's journey utters, mouthing an old Russian saying, "without vodka you can't figure it out." Ultimately Topolski escapes into Iran to join the Polish 2nd Corps which is being formed there to fight the Germans . . . but that's another story.

    This is especially the case in East-Central Europe where political institutions are weak, and social coherence remains subject to the vagaries of the concept of nationhood. Ilya Prizel's study examines the history and politics of Russia, Poland and Ukraine, and will be of interest to students of nationalism, as well as foreign policy and politics in East-Central Europe.