March 01, 2002 Rubbing Elbows With the Stars? Some Russian Life readers have suggested that we need to avoid the “glitterati” in our series on “100 Young Russians To Watch” – we should write less about ballerinas and cinema stars. I partially agree.
July 01, 2014 Cold War in Space As the New Cold War between the US and Russia heats up, joint space ventures, some 40 years in the making, are in the crosshairs.
May 01, 2008 The First Woman in Space Never "one of the boys," Valentina Tereshkova became an icon, a symbol for Soviet space achievements. But she only ever went into space once.
May 01, 2003 Valentina Tereshkova On June 16, 1963, 40 years ago, the first female cosmonaut in history, Valentina Tereshkova, launched into space aboard Vostok-6.
September 01, 2007 Kaluga's Rocket Scientist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky was the father of Russian space travel. A quirky, half-deaf teacher, he inspired generations with his idealistic views of the age to come.
September 01, 2003 Miracles on a Shoestring The Russian Space Program has enjoyed a remarkable string of successes and firsts over the past half-century. But, since the fall of the USSR, it has been forced to adapt to new, more commercial realities. We sent Nick Allen to Baikonur, the main Russian launch site, to report back on how the program is fairing.
March 01, 2011 50 Years in Space On April 12, 1961, Yuri Gagarin became the first human being to orbit the earth. By all accounts, they could not have chosen a better man for the mission.
November 01, 2012 Where We First Touched Outer Space The world's largest and most active space port is situated in the middle of the Kazakh desert. Largely off-limits to outsiders, it is an unusual mix of hi-tech and low-key. And it was from here, just over 50 years ago, that humankind first reached out to touch the stars.
April 12, 2019 To the Kokosmos For Cosmonautics Day 2019, Anna Radchenko directs a surreal meditation on space. Watch the complete film on Russian Life.
June 20, 2017 Woe From Wit (bilingual) One of the most famous works of Russian literature, the four-act comedy in verse Woe from Wit skewers staid, nineteenth century Russian society, and it positively teems with “winged phrases” that are essential colloquialisms for students of Russian and Russian culture. Humor Literature Bilingual Books Fiction
November 26, 2013 Moscow and Muscovites Vladimir Gilyarovsky's classic portrait of the Russian capital is one of Russians’ most beloved books. Yet it has never before been translated into English. Until now! It is a spectactular verbal pastiche: conversation, from gutter gibberish to the drawing room; oratory, from illiterates to aristocrats; prose, from boilerplate to Tolstoy; poetry, from earthy humor to Pushkin. Culture History Nonfiction
October 09, 2011 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. History Nonfiction
February 01, 2010 Little Golden Calf Our edition of The Little Golden Calf, one of the greatest Russian satires ever, is the first new translation of this classic novel in nearly fifty years. It is also the first unabridged, uncensored English translation ever, and is 100% true to the original 1931 serial publication in the Russian journal 30 Dnei. Anne O. Fisher’s translation is copiously annotated, and includes an introduction by Alexandra Ilf, the daughter of one of the book’s two co-authors. Fiction
December 24, 2022 Kashtanka – A Bilingual Reader A bilingual presentation of one of the great classics of Russian literature. Bilingual Books Fiction Language Learning
December 12, 2016 Murder and the Muse KGB Chief Andropov has tapped Matyushkin to solve a brazen jewel heist from Picasso’s wife at the posh Metropole Hotel. But when the case bleeds over into murder, machinations, and international intrigue, not everyone is eager to see where the clues might lead. Fiction
July 01, 2015 The Latchkey Murders Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin is back on the case in this prequel to the popular mystery Murder at the Dacha, in which a serial killer is on the loose in Khrushchev’s Moscow... Literature Fiction
November 01, 2012 Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka In this comprehensive, quixotic and addictive book, Edwin Trommelen explores all facets of the Russian obsession with vodka. Peering chiefly through the lenses of history and literature, Trommelen offers up an appropriately complex, rich and bittersweet portrait, based on great respect for Russian culture. Nonfiction
March 05, 2018 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. Nonfiction
Okudzhava Bilingual Poems, songs and autobiographical sketches by Bulat Okudzhava, the king of the Russian bards. Bilingual Books Fiction Language Learning
September 01, 2009 Life Stories 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. Literature Fiction
May 01, 2015 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. Nonfiction
