March 01, 2004 Putin Held Hostage With his reelection a sure bet, President Vladimir Putin is poised to begin his second Kremlin term. We turned to a noted satirist and opposition activist to find out what he projects for Putin 2.0.
September 01, 2002 Putin's Russia On the occasion of President Vladimir Putin's 50th birthday, we look back at how far Russia has come since January 1, 2000, and where it appears to be going.
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.
April 08, 2023 Defector Reveals Kremlin Paranoia A defector offers insights into the daily life and paranoia of Russia's president.
February 22, 2000 Yeltsin's Surprise Resignation On New Year's Eve, 1999, while many braced for a possible Y2K disaster, Boris Yeltsin resigned as president of the Russian Federation leaving a little known prime minister in charge.
January 27, 2004 Putinlovefest Russia's March presidential election was exciting for about 5 minutes, when there was talk amongst "opposition" candidates of boycotting elections, to deny Putin an electoral minimum, bringing a constitutionally mandated end to his presidency. But, by minute 6, a prominent democrat had defected and enough wacko candidates were popping up in the wings to guarantee the required 50% voter turnout. Now we are ensured a Putinlovefest of unprecedented proportions. Stay tuned...
May 23, 2011 Dima, Volodya and Alice What exactly is a Russian liberal? Has this species ever been seen in the wild (by which I mean the Kremlin)? In her spot-on analysis of Russia's ruling tandem in today's Washington Post, Liliya Shevtsova highlights this question brilliantly...
July 01, 2014 Fearful Majesty This acclaimed biography of one of Russia’s most important and tyrannical rulers is not only a rich, readable biography, it is also surprisingly timely, revealing how many of the issues Russia faces today have their roots in Ivan’s reign. Nonfiction
November 01, 2019 The Samovar Murders The murder of a poet is always more than a murder. When a famous writer is brutally stabbed on the campus of Moscow’s Lumumba University, the son of a recently deposed African president confesses, and the case assumes political implications that no one wants any part of. Fiction
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
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 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
December 24, 2022 A Taste of Chekhov This compact volume is an introduction to the works of Chekhov the master storyteller, via nine stories spanning the last twenty years of his life. Fiction
June 01, 2016 Driving Down Russia's Spine The story of the epic Spine of Russia trip, intertwining fascinating subject profiles with digressions into historical and cultural themes relevant to understanding modern Russia. Nonfiction
October 31, 2024 Far & Away ~ Tales from Rural Russia 33 original stories about modern (and not so modern) life in rural Russia. Fiction
May 01, 2013 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. Fiction
October 15, 2015 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. Fiction
February 01, 2010 Fish 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. Literature Fiction
Chekhov Bilingual Some of Chekhov's most beloved stories, with English and accented Russian on facing pages throughout. Bilingual Books Fiction Language Learning
