Russia Books

Thurston is history professor at Miami U.,Ohio,his books include: "life & terror in Stalin's Russia".(1996)..which might be considered subtitle for this well documented book. Of 5.74 million Soviet POW's, an estimed 60% died in prisons by end 1941. Stalin refused aid to all POWs held..even his own son. Contributors include German & Russian top scholars.

Robert Thurston and Bernd Bonwetsch ably collaborate to edit The People's War: Responses To World War II In The Soviet Union, an informative wealth of writings drawn from notable scholars and historians on how ordinary soviet citizens responded to the experiences, horrors, and deprivations of war, including Stalinist leadership and the Nazi invasion of the motherland. The contributors draw upon a wealth of archival and recently published material, much of which was not previously available until the collapse of the Soviet Union. Here detailed is the calculated destruction of a Jewish town by the Germans, an chilling picture of life in occupied Minsk, cultural developments, women's roles in combat, the morale of ordinary Red Army troops, and more. A balanced, comprehensive picture of civilian life behind the front lines, candid descriptions of command structure and the repressive power of the soviet state, and the reaction, cooperation, and opposition to them by the soviet people, all provide a wide ranging, complex, and revealing historical portrait not previously possible and highly recommended for students of Soviet studies, World War II history, and the endurance of the human spirit under even the most difficult of circumstances.

This may be one of the best-documented historical studies of life for science professionals in the former Soviet Union. Sadly, it is sickening!
I frankly came away with the feeling that there is very little demonstrable difference between fascism and communism at this level. It also answered a question that had always haunted me: why was Soviet theoretical science so advanced while the practical application of that science and engineering failed so miserably under communism in Russia? This book answers that question.
I think anyone who is concerned about the relationship between scientists and government should read this excellent work by Vadim J. Birstein.
One shocker for me: I had no idea that such violent anti-Semitism existed at so many levels in the former Soviet Union. Hitler and Stalin had a lot more in common than even I could have guessed!
(...)

Vadim Birstein has captured the sad and evil essence of Soviet Science. I always was mystified why theoretical science and math were so advanced in the former Soviet Union while APPLIED science/math and engineering failed so miserably. This book explains the reasons why.
The other revelation is that experimentation on political prisoners was commonplace in the former Soviet dictatorship. I guess Nazi Josef Mengele had his communist counterparts in Russia.
But throughout this madness I was shocked to find violent anti-Semitism running rampant throughout the State Organs, which controlled all science, engineering and medicine in Russia. It turns out that Hitler and Stalin had more in common than even I had ever suspected!
Required reading for those concerned about big government influence on scientific and medical research.

I learned so much from this book. It is absorbing and I would love to share it with my students. Peter the Great is a very interesting figure and I wish I had been introduced to him earlier in my life.

I handed this to my 11 year old son to read independently. I wasn't sure it would hold his interest since it lists the intended audience as much younger. However, he finished it one sitting, brought it back to me and said, "Before I read other history books, I want to read more about Peter the Great!" What more could one ask of a book? Now to try to find something that takes that next step...

BTW, he has also read a couple of her other books and enjoys them all. I asked if he would be interested in whatever else Diane Stanley has published and he expressed great eagerness.

If you are interested on learning about German and Austro-Hungarian war plans on the Eastern front, this is the book you should get. Count von Schlieffen did not only think on his war against France; he was aware of the menace Russia and Serbia meant not only for the German Empire, but also for Austria-Hungary. This book is outstanding -from my point of view- mainly because of the sources on which the resaerch is based. Also, it is so well written that on can actually imagine the austro-hungarian forces being transferred from one front to another on overcrowded rail tracks, as well as the German High Command considering which moves to make on the East. Mr. Tunstall also deals with Conrad von Hotzendorf, Imperial Chief of Staff of Austria-Hungary, whose constant mistakes seem to have put the Empire in such awckward position that without German help one can seriously doubt if they could have lasted more than one year of war. This is a must read for any really interested on the First World War.

I have read this book twice now and have never found an insipid moment. This book refocuses history as we know it. Tunstall is brilliant, commendable, unrelenting. I am looking forward to many future succusses in literature.

This book investigates the politics, global political-economy stakes in the Caspian Sea region. The book is a collection of articles to inform the reader about the significance of this trans-national resource which has the potential to change the economic, political and social ventures in central Eurasia. The book tracks the roots and development of the recent global interest in the Caspian Sea oil and pipelines. At the beginning of the new millennium Caspian energy resources have assumed increased geopolitical importance. Once fully exported to world markets, flows of large volumes of Caspian oil through non-OPEC lands may erode the power of OPEC, and therefore politically and militarily supported by the only super power of this century- the USA. This is an excellent survey of the geo-politics of the Caspian oil, painstakingly researched, tightly structured, and elegantly presented.

At the end of the Cold War, Eurasia emerged as the world's axial supercontinent. The lure of enormous reserves in the Caspian Sea region has made the region the focus of fierce competition between multinationals and the powerful states. This book is about this important geo-economic struggle and provides an essential background to understand the recent conflict in the region, from Afghanistan to Iraq. This is the context in which one should be talking about emerging forms of political and economic control, military control and a forceful push for the US-led globalisation. This book is an essential reading on this increasingly important topic.

Bewitching history of Russian peasant women thought to be possessed by demons. Contributing to the drama--the Russian Orthodox Church, bias against women, politics, poverty, and ignorance. Of great interest.

Possessed is the first book to examine the phenomenon of demon possession in Russia. Drawing upon a wide range of sources--religious, psychiatric, ethnographic, and literary--Worobec looks at klikushestvo over a broad span of time but focuses mainly on the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when all of Russian society felt the pressure of modernization.

This is one of the best books on the subject to have been published in recent years. It is very informative and well written - there are one or two minor spelling mistakes, but that does not affect the overall quality. So many books are repetetive and pedestrian that it is refreshing to find one which covers so much including the history of the thought behind the Icon as well as technical details. If anyone only wants two or three books on the Icon this should be one of them.

Lovely book. Lavish with illustrations. Perfect for what I wanted.

This is the best piece of literary criticism I have read on a Russian author, and definitely one of the best pieces in lit studies in general. Greenleaf is sophisticated yet remarkably clear and persuasive. And the book is not just useful for readers of Pushkin; I would argue that any lit student should read some of this, to get a sense of how genre figures into literary analysis. I loved it.

This book received major awards from both the modern language association (MLA) and the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies. It is best described by the citation from the MLA judges: "In a volume whose elegant style and civilized irony are a loving critical tribute to Russia's 'national poet,' Monika Greenleaf confronts Pushkin's protean nature with exhaustive comparative research, independent- minded recourse to contemporary critical theory, unfailing fairness to her scholarly predecessors, and a sharp eye for the details and patterns of Pushkin's major and minor texts. Her notion of 'self-portraiture' allows her to join readings of Pushkin's work, culture, and biography together in a subtle, persuasive whole that is sure to be a landmark in Russian studies for years to come."

Only reading this book you would be able to select what kayak you want to built and how it will perform, also the paddle. Recomended to read, at least to look, before decideing to built your kayak.
Sólo leyendo este libro serás capaz de decidir que kayak quieres para ti y como se ve a comportar en el agua. No necesitarás otras instrucciones más que las ilustraciones, así tendrá tu espíritu. Incluye diseño de la pala apropiada.

this book is a must have for any kayaker.I found it at the library and was amazed by the amount of info about traditional kayak design and techniques.I guess it was the accompanying text for an exhibition by the Alaska Division of State Museums.It was making the rounds in the mid-eighties and featured kayaks from all around the Arctic circle,such as siberia, greenland, baffin, etc. Too cool! If youre sick of 60# lugboats and are looking at lighter designs you have to check out this book.

There is a lot more info on the Quiller series at www.quiller.net, a fan site.

How Elleston Trevor (aka Adam Hall)would have laughed - so folks who bought this shamefully out of print classic also bought *JK Rowling*? Well, why not and God bless them and God bless the technology that can crunch the stats to come up with that one.

Hall's lone ferret of a spy is one of the great creations of fiction and I think this is the latest one to be essayed by Hollywood to fit on the screen. It'll be the usual fiasco, of course, because Hall's muscular poetry and Quiller's inner dialog simply won't translate and, anyway, it'll have to be dumbed so far down that it might as well be some hack ghoster providing the screenplay, which is probably what it will be.

Of course, you can't actually *buy* any Quillers these days because the publishers are incapable to keeping them in print, but that should end when the movie comes out and Travolta or whoever they get struts his stuff and tries to get the shotokan right. (I hope it is Travolta because Elleston piled such contempt on the Ron Hubbard lot in his lifetime that it'd be poetic justice for one of them to come an artistic cropper trying to take on Hall's elegant storyline and real flesh-n-blood hero.)