July 06, 2020 Russian Grammar Strikes Again By Griffin Edwards Russian grammar is tough, even for the Russians that make official constitutional-referendum ballots. Government Language Politics Russia File
July 03, 2020 Next on your Summer Reading List: Putin By Griffin Edwards If Russia has its way, German history students could be reading a new article by none other than the president himself. Education History Holidays Politics War Russia File
June 18, 2020 The Anti-Party Almost Coup By The Editors On this day in 1957, Nikita Khrushchev survived an ouster vote. It gave him another 7 years in power. History Politics TBT
June 15, 2020 Peace Out! By Griffin Edwards The newly-released 2020 Global Peace Index has some surprising findings. Government Int'l Relations Politics Social Issues Russia File
June 04, 2020 Celebrate Life By The Editors In these difficult times, let’s celebrate life. Specifically, five Russians (from a diplomat to an conductor to an activist) who happen to share today, June 4, as their birthday. Biographies Int'l Relations Literature Music Politics War TBT
April 09, 2020 Scams, Frogs, and Cars By The Editors This week we have a little bit of everything: new cars, freshly-paved streets, and, of course, plenty of coronavirus. Animals Business Cities & Towns Government Health Moscow Politics Urban Life Odder News
March 16, 2020 Generation "Y (Just) Russia, Y (Just) Politics?" By Katrina Keegan Millennials studying Russian will determine the future of U.S.-Russia relations. How they differ from their Sovietologist predecessors. Int'l Relations Interview Politics
March 13, 2020 Russians "Re-Zero" in Online Humor By The Editors After President Vladimir Putin admitted he wouldn't mind resetting his constitutional term limit, a new meme was born. Humor Politics
March 08, 2020 Vote for Oleg, Not Olga By Griffin Edwards A public opinion survey reveals that Russians are averse to a woman holding Putin's office. Government Politics Women Russia File
March 04, 2020 Well-trained Pets, Songs about Coronavirus, and Putin on Line One By The Editors In this week's Odder News: Putin's smartphone habits, Russian homophones make a headache for the police, and a coronavirus serenade. Animals Health Humor Music Politics Odder News
March 01, 2020 Whatever it is, we're against it By Michele A. Berdy If you believe the papers, Russia is in the grips of протестное настроение, which literally means a mood for protest, but which might be better translated as “loaded for bear.” Government Language Politics
March 01, 2020 Frescoes, Graves and a new PM By The Editors In which Russia discovers old frescoes, a lost grave, and a new PM. Among other news. Government News Politics Travel
November 01, 2021 to November 30, 2021 Yuri Gorbachev's 18th Annual Exhibition at the Byrne Gallery in Middleburg, Virginia The Byrne Gallery | Middleburg, VA Susan Byrne and Bill Byrne are celebrating their Gallery's 26th anniversary this year in Middleburg with a celebration and exhibition of the vivid oil and enamel paintings of internationally-acclaimed artist Yuri Gorbachev. Art Exhibit
October 15, 2021 to April 03, 2022 Icons for Our Time: Orthodox Art from Around the World Museum of Russian Icons | Clinton, MA Fifteen contemporary icons from fifteen countries explore iconography today. Presented in celebration of the museum's 15th Anniversary. Art Exhibit
October 09, 2021 to October 23, 2021 48th Annual Russian Food Festival, 2021 Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Church | Baltimore, MD This year we are conducting a scaled-down festival in the parish hall on three consecutive Saturdays in October 2021 to allow for social distancing and for the safety of our guests and volunteers. But don't worry, the food will not be scaled down! Festival
Life Stories: Original Fiction By Russian Authors The Life Stories collection is a nice introduction to contemporary Russian fiction: many of the 19 authors featured here have won major Russian literary prizes and/or become bestsellers. These are life-affirming stories of love, family, hope, rebirth, mystery and imagination, masterfully translated by some of the best Russian-English translators working today. The selections reassert the power of Russian literature to affect readers of all cultures in profound and lasting ways. Best of all, 100% of the profits from the sale of this book are going to benefit Russian hospice—not-for-profit care for fellow human beings who are nearing the end of their own life stories.
White Magic The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.
Maria's War: A Soldier's Autobiography This astonishingly gripping autobiography by the founder of the Russian Women’s Death Battallion in World War I is an eye-opening documentary of life before, during and after the Bolshevik Revolution.
Red Star Tales: A Century of Russian and Soviet Science Fiction For over 100 years, most of the science fiction produced by the world’s largest country has been beyond the reach of Western readers. This new collection changes that, bringing a large body of influential works into the English orbit.
Bears in the Caviar Bears in the Caviar is a hilarious and insightful memoir by a diplomat who was “present at the creation” of US-Soviet relations. Charles Thayer headed off to Russia in 1933, calculating that if he could just learn Russian and be on the spot when the US and USSR established relations, he could make himself indispensable and start a career in the foreign service. Remarkably, he pulled it of.
Jews in Service to the Tsar Benjamin Disraeli advised, “Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.” With Jews in Service to the Tsar, Lev Berdnikov offers us 28 biographies spanning five centuries of Russian Jewish history, and each portrait opens a new window onto the history of Eastern Europe’s Jews, illuminating dark corners and challenging widely-held conceptions about the role of Jews in Russian history.
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.
Fish: A History of One Migration This mesmerizing novel from one of Russia’s most important modern authors traces the life journey of a selfless Russian everywoman. In the wake of the Soviet breakup, inexorable forces drag Vera across the breadth of the Russian empire. Facing a relentless onslaught of human and social trials, she swims against the current of life, countering adversity and pain with compassion and hope, in many ways personifying Mother Russia’s torment and resilience amid the Soviet disintegration.
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.
Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices Stargorod is a mid-sized provincial city that exists only in Russian metaphorical space. It has its roots in Gogol, and Ilf and Petrov, and is a place far from Moscow, but close to Russian hearts. It is a place of mystery and normality, of provincial innocence and Black Earth wisdom. Strange, inexplicable things happen in Stargorod. So do good things. And bad things. A lot like life everywhere, one might say. Only with a heavy dose of vodka, longing and mystery.
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.
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.
July 01, 2021 The Girl from the Hermitage By Molly Gartland Molly Gartland’s The Girl from the Hermitage follows the turns of fate over nearly a century of a single family in St. Petersburg, whose lives are forever altered by a portrait assignment. Art History Literature St. Petersburg
April 06, 2020 A Russian Gift By Mark C. Medish A look at how the Jesuits, Pope Francis, and Georgetown University all share an interesting connection to Russia. History Int'l Relations Religion
September 01, 2019 Returning from Afar By Benson Bobrick An excerpt from Benson Bobrick’s new book, a memoir of his life and work as a writer. Memoir Travel
November 01, 2020 Tsarina: In the Winter Palace By Ellen Alpsten Catherine I finds herself at a turning point upon the death of her husband, Peter the Great. History Literature
September 01, 2021 Profiles in Courage By Paul E. Richardson It takes something special in a human being to create a thing from scratch, to see a slab of stone and carve it into a sculpture, to see an empty storefront and turn it into a store, to sketch out a multistory building on paper and then shepherd it into existence in the real world. History Journalism
February 03, 2018 12 Myths/Truths About Russians and Vodka By The Editors Think you know your vodka? Take this True/False quiz (just 12 items) about Russians and their vodka and see if you are right about that... Food & Drink
