Russia Books

I just read Elana's book and feel I have a deeper understanding of the Russian and mind. More importantly, her diary opens up a whole new way of looking at not just Russia, but the difference between Russian and American psychology. Written in the first person (it is a diary), Elana's frank reflections about her past and present situations in the pre and post Soviet Russia offers the reader of any culture an insightful glimpse of the unabated humanity behind the politics and ideologies.

I'm planning to marry a Russian woman soon and have found this book invaluable in knowing any Russian woman. Thank you Elena!

Excellent historical details and great starting point for understanding the Victorian-era cavalry troop. Great pictures, documents,and maps aid in understanding the life and times of a dragoon/lancer/hussar during the Crimean War.

The internet links to websites that offer virtual tours and similar exciting things are all routed through www.usborne-quicklinks.com, a site that is closely maintained to avoid dead links. An introductory warning emphasizes the importance of supervising young children's access to the internet, with basic rules for personal safety. Yet no computer or internet access is required to enjoy or learn from The Usborne Internet-Linked Introduction To Asia; it is a fully self- contained reference and introduction to the varied lands and peoples of Asia, and the many interlinks it features are simply extra embellishments. Intended for young adults, The Usborne Internet-Linked Introduction To Asia is illustrated with full-color photographs on every page depicting nations from Siberia to China to East India and many more. In addition to maps and basic statistics concerning various Asian countries, snippets of life daily life, religion, and art compel one's full attention - from a glimpse of a Japanese Shinto shrine to the technique of leg-rowing that allows Burmese fishermen to move their boats and keep one hand free to handle their bamboo trap, to a reindeer herder hard at work. A highly recommended resource for school and public libraries as well as private collections, educational, enjoyable, and stimulating for young minds.

I was fascinated to see that Kinglake's enormous history of the Crimean War has been brought back into print. I am aware that some people doubt Kinglake's history, and don't like it. After all, it is hard to get people to agree about anything.

But, for me, the real interest of Alexander Kinglake comes from a volume of memoirs. The author of these memoirs had the chance to meet Winston Churchill, and asked the great man what he could read to improve his style. Churchill growled back, "Kinglake." So the memoirist took himself off to a local bookstore, and discovered Kinglake's "Eothen," a masterpiece of travel-writing that has probably never been out of print.

Some time later, the same memoirist had another chance to meet Churchill, and this time around he was able to say that he had really enjoyed reading Kinglake, and would appreciate another suggestion. In return, Churchill growled, "MORE Kinglake." So our memoirist took himself off to the bookshop again, and discovered the only other book ever written by Alexander Kinglake, his 8-volume "Invasion of the Crimea."

Was Winston Churchill JOKING? Our memoirist thought not, bought the books, and was mightily improved by them.

Open up the first volume, read the first page, and find yourself in the presence of a master of English prose.

I'm extremely glad for the paperback edition of this book, because my other copies are so old that they are Valuable, and so they don't make good reading copies.

Would you like to write superb English? Start with Gibbon and Kinglake!!

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Kinglake is not only a master of style, he is a master historian. Anyone interested in history will want to have this volume. His introductory description of the Crimea is excellent, his explanation of "The Usage" in the world of European diplomacy is found nowhere else (so far as I know), and his portraits of the Russian Czar Nicholas, with his adversary, Stratford Canning (later Lord Stratford) are fascinating.

With all of that comes one of the greatest historical essays ever written -- Kinglake's brilliant analysis of Napoleon II, and how he managed to steal France from the French.

This is a truly superb book in all respects.

Highest possible recommendation!

All too often people think of the Enlightenment as a group of smart people thinking about why we are so wonderful. The flip side of Enlightenment thinking is that to make Europeans seem so wonderful, the Philosophes described themselves against an Other, who possessed all the undesirable traits not accepted by the "Enlightened" people. Wolff shows how the Philosophes, with limited actual knowledge of Eastern Europe, used the civilizations east of Germany to show the benefits of living in the West. During the Enlightenment the language used to describe Eastern Europe ascribed barbaric qualities to the people and offered little faith that the people could ever "evolve" as Western Europeans had. Wolff uses maps and traveler's accounts to show the influence the philosphes had on perceptions of Eastern Europe. It is rather disconcerting to note that many of these same perceptions persist today.

A great book, which though short in pages, gives a great first hand account of the battle of Stalingrad from the point of view of an ordinary soldier.

We have all read the top level strategic views of this world famous battle but to read of its effect on the ordinary combatant takes one actually there to the front line yourself

Five stars,no words about it.

One of the most complete book on a complex subjet. Gives a broad perspective on the situation of Islam in Russia and the conflicts related to «islamic fundamentalism» in the North Caucasus. A must for everyone whose interested in the region.

Sylvain Lavoie

Thomas Noonan was a professor of History at the University of Minnesota and one of the world's leading and most prolific scholars of medieval Russia for nearly three decades. Particularly, Professor Noonan's research focused on analyzing the hundreds of Islamic silver coin hoards that were deposited in the soil of Scandinavia, the eastern Baltic, and European Russia during the late eighth through the late tenth centuries. Using the hoards, Noonan succeeded in establishing patterns of Viking activity in Eastern Europe which had remained elusive to historians due to the lack of literary evidence for the period. He shed further light on the numismatic evidence by surveying the Russian archaeological material and the literary evidence from Byzantium, Khazaria, Central Asia, and the Islamic Caliphate.

This collection of essays addresses such questions as: Why did the Vikings first come to Russia? One of the primary reasons, according to Noonan, was the availability of silver flowing through Eastern Europe from the Islamic Caliphate. In another article, Noonan discusses why the flow of silver began in the mid- to late-eighth century, focusing particularly on the problems within the Caliphate, which led to its concluding peace and opening of trade relations with the Khazars. In another article, Noonan examines the distribution of silver throughout Russia in the ninth century, which suggests patterns of Viking activity in the East which are not discernible in the written sources. Noonan's reconstruction of this portion of Viking history using often intractable evidence is a brilliant contribution to Viking and Russian history.

Readers should be aware, however, that this is a collection of essays and not a monograph. The reader should not expect an immediately accessible narrative of Viking raids and adventures. Noonan's writing style is, however, refreshingly lucid and engaging for high scholarship. The cost of the collection is also beyond the practical means of most readers. In order to avoid the cost, one may find all of the articles in journals and anthologies available in most research libraries.

Warnings of accessibility and cost aside, Noonan's work is fundamental to anyone seriously interested in the eastern Viking world. Viking studies has long suffered from its wetern European emphasis. General works on the Vikings may include a short section on the Vikings in Russia, but these sections are too often brief and simplistic due to the understandable problems in assimilating Russian-language material. Professor Noonan tried to redress the balance, but his work was often ignored because he did not produce a monograph before his death in 2001. It is hoped that the articles in this volume, along with his more than 100 studies, will receive more attention in the future.

A good resource for Russian history in Russian language. Nicely researched and thorough.