A sweeping, intricate description of Russian cultural history, spanning the pre-Romanov era through six centuries to the reign of Joseph Stalin. Flowing with ease through time and topic -- from art to music, literature, philosophy, mythology and more -- the book provides readers with an alluring portrayal of Russia's proud heritage. Its impressive scope and lasting insights have made it a foundational text in Russian studies. In fact, it was this book, more than any other, that captured my imagination and propelled me toward the study of Russia and the Soviet Union. --Condoleezza Rice, The New... View More...
" Red Notice] does for investing in Russia and the former Soviet Union what Liar's Poker did for our understanding of Salomon Brothers, Wall Street, and the mortgage-backed securities business in the 1980s. Browder's business saga meshes View More...
" A] tale of power, perseverance and passion . . . a great story in the hands of a master storyteller."--The Wall Street Journal The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Peter the Great, Nicholas and Alexandra, and The Romanovs returns with another masterpiece of narrative biography, the extraordinary story of an obscure German princess who became one of the most remarkable, powerful, and captivating women in history. Born into a minor noble family, Catherine transformed herself into empress of Russia by sheer determination. For thirty-four years, the government, foreign policy, cultural develop... View More...
Beginning in the eighteenth century with the building of St. Petersburg and culminating with the Soviet regime, Figes examines how writers, artists, and musicians grappled with the idea of Russia itself--its character, spiritual essence, and destiny. Skillfully interweaving the great works--by Dostoevsky, Stravinsky, and Chagall--with folk embroidery, peasant songs, religious icons, and all the customs of daily life, Figes reveals the spirit of Russianness as rich and uplifting, complex and contradictory--and more lasting than any Russian ruler or state.
1994 - Moscow Armed with an excellent education, na ve optimism, and raw enthusiasm, a young woman takes her first steps from studying the theory of economic reform in the former Soviet Union to the reality of attempting to shape it. From the back cover: Every generation of university graduates believes they are going to change the world. My classmates and I took things one step further and really tried. The Soviet Union had collapsed in late 1991. The future was not yet written. There were no correct answers. Anything could happen. On this raw new frontier, anyone in academia or politics or b... View More...
Here is a pioneering account of everyday life under Stalin, written by a leading authority on modern Russian history. Focusing on the urban population, Fitzpatrick depicts a world of privation, overcrowding, endless lines, and broken homes, in which the regime's promises of future socialistabundance rang hollowly. We read of a government bureaucracy that often turned life into a nightmare, and of how ordinary citizens tried to circumvent it. We also read of the secret police, whose constant surveillance was endemic at this time, and the waves of terror, like the Great Purges of 1937, which per... View More...
Hailed by the Los Angeles Times as "a brisk, exciting tour of Russia's long journey from its Kievan origins," Russia: A History cuts through the myths and mystery that have surrounded this nation from its earliest days, with startling revelations from classified archives that until recently were not even known to exist. A distinguished team of historians has stripped away the propaganda of the past to tell the definitive story of Russia, from tenth-century Kiev and Muscovy through empire and revolution to the fall of Communism and the "new order" of the early 21st century. What emerges is a na... View More...
This text covers the city's political and social history, as well as its infinite contributions to scholarship, culture, and world politics. View More...
WINNER OF THE 2017 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD IN NONFICTION FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARDS WINNER OF THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY'S HELEN BERNSTEIN BOOK AWARD NAMED A BEST BOOK OF 2017 BY THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW, LOS ANGELES TIMES, WASHINGTON POST, BOSTON GLOBE, SEATTLE TIMES, CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, NEWSWEEK, PASTE, and POP SUGAR The essential journalist and bestselling biographer of Vladimir Putin reveals how, in the space of a generation, Russia surrendered to a more virulent and invincible new strain of autocracy. Award-winning journalist Masha Gessen's understand... View More...
Eugenia Ginzburg's critically acclaimed memoir of the harrowing eighteen years she spent in prisons and labor camps under Stalin's rule By the late 1930s, Eugenia Semyonovna Ginzburg had been a loyal and very active member of the Communist Party for many years. Yet like millions of others who suffered during Stalin's reign of terror, she was arrested--on trumped-up charges of being a Trotskyist terrorist and counter-revolutionary--and sentenced to prison. With an amazing eye for detail, profound strength, and an indefatigable spirit, Ginzburg recounts the years, days, and minutes she endured i... View More...
Both witness to and victim of Stalin's reign of terror, a courageous woman tells the story of her harrowing eighteen-year odyssey through Russia's prisons and labor camps. Translated by Paul Stevenson and Max Hayward. A Helen and Kurt Wolff Book
Edited and translated from the Russian by Antony Beevor and Luba Vinogradova Knopf Canada is proud to present a masterpiece of the Second World War, never before published in English, from one of the great Russian writers of the 20th century - a vivid eyewitness account of the Eastern Front and "the ruthless truth of war." When the Germans invaded Russia in 1941, Vasily Grossman became a special correspondent for the Red Star, the Red Army's newspaper. A Writer at War - based on the notebooks in which Grossman gathered raw material for his articles - depicts the crushing conditions on the East... View More...
Epic history on the grandest scale. . . . Game of Thrones seems like the proverbial vicar's tea party in comparison.--Financial Times The Romanovs were the most successful dynasty of modern times, ruling a sixth of the world's surface for three centuries. How did one family turn a war-ruined principality into the world's greatest empire? And how did they lose it all? This is the intimate story of twenty tsars and tsarinas, some touched by genius, some by madness, but all inspired by holy autocracy and imperial ambition. Simon Sebag Montefiore's gripping chronicle reveals their secret world of ... View More...
Epic history on the grandest scale. . . . Game of Thrones seems like the proverbial vicar's tea party in comparison.--Financial Times The Romanovs were the most successful dynasty of modern times, ruling a sixth of the world's surface for three centuries. How did one family turn a war-ruined principality into the world's greatest empire? And how did they lose it all? This is the intimate story of twenty tsars and tsarinas, some touched by genius, some by madness, but all inspired by holy autocracy and imperial ambition. Simon Sebag Montefiore's gripping chronicle reveals their secret world of ... View More...
Nobody, least of all the Bolsheviks, expected Russia to become the world's first Communist state. The year of Comrades began with the murder of Rasputin and ended with the creation of the secret police. In a narrative style, this book chronicles the events of the February Revolution. View More...
