February 10, 2021 War of the Potties By Haley Bader “Shocking! You don’t say – a toilet, right in the home! And a double-sized bed. Even Putin sleeps more modestly, and has to go out into the yard of Gelendzhik [to do his business].” – On February 7th, Twitter user Kön de Labre, Inostrannyj Agent, Jr. (@KStatator) bled concern for Putin’s modest living. Architecture Internet Politics Quote
January 01, 2021 Movies, Modernism, and Moscow Archaeology By The Editors News items on an Oscar contender, a respected doctor, renovation of Tula, and a Kremlin dig. Architecture Film & TV History Travel
January 01, 2021 Restoring the Future By Yevgenia Volunkova A determined artist, photographer, and activist takes on the restoration of some wooden homes in a village just outside of Samara. In the process, she learns much about angle grinders, her fellow Russians, and, of course, herself. Architecture Cities & Towns Rural Life
December 18, 2020 Tomsk Treasures in Trouble By Margaret Godwin-Jones Historic wooden buildings in Tomsk are under threat. Architecture Regions Russia File
December 07, 2020 Soviet Disneyland: Exploring VDNKh By Griffin Edwards One of our favorite spots in Moscow is a surreal blend of theme park, museum, and Stalinist kitsch. Architecture History Moscow Travel
July 13, 2020 My Kingdom for a Church By Griffin Edwards Russia and Turkey are split over the use of an iconic Istanbul— er, Constantinople— monument. Architecture History Int'l Relations Religion Russia File
June 16, 2020 The Inheritance of the Tsars: Russia's Claim to Rome By Griffin Edwards Russia-watchers sometimes encounter the idea that Moscow is the "Third Rome." But where does this idea come from, and what does it mean? Architecture History Religion
May 19, 2020 Piter's People – Maxim Kosmin By Elena Bobrova Maxim is a blogger and photographer who helps everyone to see the charm of St. Petersburg historic apartments. Architecture St. Petersburg Urban Life Piter's People
May 12, 2020 Winner, Winner, Saving Sinners By Margaret Godwin-Jones Does this church have “the most beautiful facade in the world”? Architecture News Religion Russia File
April 12, 2020 Russians Share Window Views By Margaret Godwin-Jones Have you been looking our your window more now that you’re spending more time at home? What do you see? Why not show the world? Architecture Media Pop Culture Russia File
April 05, 2020 A Russian Eiffel Tower By Griffin Edwards If you build it, they will come. Well, they would, if they weren't all practicing social distancing. Architecture Cities & Towns Government Russia File
April 02, 2020 April Fooling Around... And Not By The Editors There will surely be some great April Fools' news items this week. These, however, are some that we wish were jokes. Architecture Cities & Towns Economy Health Internet Religion Odder News
April 29, 2021 to April 29, 2021 Communism Through the Lens: Everyday Life Captured by Women Photographers Zimmerli Museum | New Brunswick, NJ The exhibition Communism Through the Lens: Everyday Life Captured by Women Photographers in the Dodge Collection highlights the unique – and often overlooked – photographic innovations by women who shaped the history of photography during the 20th century. Art Exhibit
May 02, 2021 to May 02, 2021 Three Sisters Live Stream Performance Online - Pushkin House | London, Anton Chekhov's The Three Sisters probes the lives and dreams of Olga, Masha, and Irina, former Muscovites now living in a provincial town from which they're desperate to escape. In this powerful play, a landmark of modern drama, Chekhov masterfully interweaves character and theme in subtle ways that make the work's climax seem as inevitable as it is deeply moving. Theater
May 01, 2021 to May 31, 2021 20th Annual Russian Arts and Culture Festival Virtual | N/A, N/A The City of West Hollywood administration invites everyone to join a virtual celebration of Russian Arts and Culture this May. An array of musical events, activities for kids, workshops, virtual tours, concerts, contests, interviews with interesting people, and much more will comprise a month-long celebration. The program of our events will be published on the website of the festival and in the Facebook group. Festival
Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy A book that dares to explore the humanity of priests and pilgrims, saints and sinners, Faith & Humor has been both a runaway bestseller in Russia and the focus of heated controversy – as often happens when a thoughtful writer takes on sacred cows. The stories, aphorisms, anecdotes, dialogues and adventures in this volume comprise an encyclopedia of modern Russian Orthodoxy, and thereby of Russian life.
Russia Rules From the shores of the White Sea to Moscow and the Northern Caucasus, Russian Rules is a high-speed thriller based on actual events, terrifying possibilities, and some really stupid decisions.
Resilience: Life Stories of Centenarians Born in the Year of Revolution Call it resilience, grit, or just perseverance – it takes a special sort of person to have survived the last 100 years of Russian and Soviet history.
The Frogs Who Begged for a Tsar The fables of Ivan Krylov are rich fonts of Russian cultural wisdom and experience – reading and understanding them is vital to grasping the Russian worldview. This new edition of 62 of Krylov’s tales presents them side-by-side in English and Russian. The wonderfully lyrical translations by Lydia Razran Stone are accompanied by original, whimsical color illustrations by Katya Korobkina.
The Best of Russian Life We culled through 15 years of Russian Life to select readers’ and editors’ favorite stories and biographies for inclusion in a special two-volume collection. Totalling over 1100 pages, these two volumes encompass some of the best writing we have published over the last two decades, and include the most timeless stories and biographies – those that can be read again and again.
Survival Russian Survival Russian is an intensely practical guide to conversational, colloquial and culture-rich Russian. It uses humor, current events and thematically-driven essays to deepen readers’ understanding of Russian language and culture. This enlarged Second Edition of Survival Russian includes over 90 essays and illuminates over 2000 invaluable Russian phrases and words.
93 Untranslatable Russian Words Every language has concepts, ideas, words and idioms that are nearly impossible to translate into another language. This book looks at nearly 100 such Russian words and offers paths to their understanding and translation by way of examples from literature and everyday life. Difficult to translate words and concepts are introduced with dictionary definitions, then elucidated with citations from literature, speech and prose, helping the student of Russian comprehend the word/concept in context.
Marooned in Moscow This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.
The Spine of Russia This coffee table book is the photographic journal of an epic 6000-kilometer road trip. The book includes over 200 compelling images of Russians and Russian places met along the way, plus a dozen texts (in both English and Russian) on everything from business to education, from roads to fools.
At the Circus This wonderful novella by Alexander Kuprin tells the story of the wrestler Arbuzov and his battle against a renowned American wrestler. Rich in detail and characterization, At the Circus brims with excitement and life. You can smell the sawdust in the big top, see the vivid and colorful characters, sense the tension build as Arbuzov readies to face off against the American.
Resilience ~ The Russian Version (Переживем) Call it resilience, grit, or just perseverance – it takes a special sort of person to have survived the last 100 years of Russian and Soviet history.
The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas This exciting new trilogy by a Russian author – who has been compared to Orhan Pamuk and Umberto Eco – vividly recreates a lost world, yet its passions and characters are entirely relevant to the present day. Full of mystery, memorable characters, and non-stop adventure, The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas is a must read for lovers of historical fiction and international thrillers.
October 31, 2016 Why Stalin's Corpse Was Exhumed on Halloween By Alice E.M. Underwood The body of Joseph Stalin was removed from the mausoleum on Red Square on October 31, 1961. It may not be as spooky as Halloween, but the former leader still haunts Russia today. History Politics Social Issues
March 20, 2020 Vodka vs. Coronavirus By Margaret Godwin-Jones Russia’s Ministry of Health discussed ways vodka can affect the coronavirus (spoiler alert: not much). Food & Drink Health CVSG Russia File
September 01, 2019 Bite Marks By Paul E. Richardson Is Russia somehow different from other nations, or is it just like any other? History Int'l Relations
March 17, 2019 When Russian Cuisine Turns Georgian By Tiffany Zhu Why is Georgian food so popular in Russia? Turns out there's more to it than deliciousness. Culture Food & Drink History
November 18, 2016 Famous Americans with Russian Roots By Letitia Rydjeski America is a land built by immigrants. We researched famous Americans with Russian roots and offer this compilation. History Reference Russians Abroad
June 22, 2020 Why Invading Russia was Hitler's Downfall By Alice E.M. Underwood June 22, 2020, marks the 79th anniversary of Operation Barbarossa, the Nazi invasion of Russia that changed the course of WWII and, perhaps, history itself. History Social Issues War
