Free Samples

Catherine I finds herself at a turning point upon the death of her husband, Peter the Great.

The progenitor of Russian Life got its start 65 years ago this fall. We talk to one of its famous early editors about what it was like to write about Russia for the world in that era.

Is Russia somehow different from other nations, or is it just like any other?

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.

An excerpt from Benson Bobrick’s new book, a memoir of his life and work as a writer.

American bees are dying from mysterious causes, putting our agriculture at risk for lack of pollinators. Russian bees might be part of a solution.

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.

Listening to the intensely chromatic compositions of Sofia Gubaidulina can be challenging. You wouldn’t put her music on to relax or to be energized. As with any avant-garde work, taking it in can feel like work.

A tale of two long distance road races – Russia’s oldest and its most prestigious – and what they tell us about the state of running and fitness in Russia.

Russia is pushing ahead with a new drive to populate the country’s remote and unpopular fringes. Starting this year, Russians can claim a hectare (about 2.5 acres) of land in the Arctic zone – absolutely free.