December 03, 2011 Chtenia 17 The next issue of Chtenia, #17, is being laid out this weekend, and as always, there's a deep satisfaction in seeing the whole team's work come to fruition. The theme of the issue is Sport, which at the moment strikes me as a great counterpoint to the winter season, when holidays and cold weather compromise one's fitness routine with such gleeful impunity. Literature Russia File
December 01, 2011 Faith & Humor 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. Religion Fiction
November 28, 2011 Contest Winners Announced The results are in for our 55th Anniversary Subscriber Contest. One in 14 entries were winners, and over $1200 in prizes are mailing out to lucky subscribers this week! Russia File
November 18, 2011 Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky and a Few Spies Reviews of some recent books on Tolstoy, Spying and the end of the USSR. And a new translation of an often overlooked work by Dostoyevsky. As published in the November/December 2011 issue of Russian Life. Int'l Relations Literature Reviews Russia File
November 16, 2011 Russian 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. Fiction
November 01, 2011 End of the USSR A ground-eye view of the end of the USSR, which took place 20 years ago this month.
November 01, 2011 Volcanoes and Empires The USSR’s abrupt termination on December 25, 1991, was the most significant international event of the last half of the twentieth century.
November 01, 2011 The Heart of the Trans-Siberian It was the last, most difficult part of the Trans-Siberian to build – a 90 km stretch of railway bending around Lake Baikal’s southern coast. To this day it preserves the ethos of its age and is the symbolic heart of the 9,289 kilometer rail line. Travel
November 01, 2011 Putin is Dead! Long Live Putin! A round up of political jokes and jabs being bandied about in the wake of Putin's announcement that he will be running for the presidency again. Humor
