Russia Books

I was in love with Katia Gordeeva & Sergei Grinkov from the moment I first saw them skating together. Their classic routines were perfect enough to win many world championships including a 1988 Olympic gold medal in Calgary Canada.

Romance eventually blossomed and the beautifully matched pair were married in April of 1991. Their daughter, Daria Sergeyevna Grinkova, was born in my favorite Morristown NJ a little over a year later.

Reading Katia's memories of their life and love still brings tears to my eyes.

I recommend this book for its portrait of pure innocence enframed in the magical world of ice skating.

I'm really glad I found this book at a library book sale last year. Though this story is no longer current news, I hadn't forgotten about the tragic death of Sergey Grinkov or watching him perform with his wife Katya in the 1994 Winter Olympics. And even though the world has long since moved onto other headlines and stories of interest in the figure skating world, the love story told in this book is truly timeless. As a Russophile and a historian whose field of expertise is Russian history, it was a double joy to read because of all of the descriptions of Russian culture, the differences between Russian and American customs, and what life was like in the late Soviet period and the early post-Soviet period. (Although I have to say that the transliteration style wasn't completely pleasing to me; for example, I don't think I've ever read any other book where a double O is used in place of the letter U, as in Ligooshina or Katoosha, and I'm still trying to figure out how the nicknames Serioque and Katuuh are supposed to be written in Russian characters.)

Though the book begins and ends sadly, in between there's a lot of happiness and love, making this into a beautiful heartfelt love letter to a wonderful person, skating partner, friend, lover, husband, and father. The love between Katya and Seryozha is so pure and genuine, nothing like the type of superficial and problem-plagued celebrity relationships we're used to hearing about. It even made me a little jealous of their storybook love story! All throughout, Katya is very honest and open, about their relationship, the world of young skaters in the Soviet Union, what goes on behind the scenes at the Olympics, the hectic life on the road of skaters, and how difficult it was to constantly have to leave their daughter Darya behind while they skated. While I'm sure there are some things she chose not to write about, overall a very detailed and honest life and love story emerges. She was so lucky to have this wonderful man, who was so much more than just an athletic partner, for (what was then) half of her life.

Because the love story is so beautiful and like a dream come true, the reader can really feel her deep grief and sorrow expressed at the beginning and end of the book. It's a terrible thing to lose the love of your life, the father of your child, the only person you've ever skated with for the past 13 years, when you're only 24 years old. This beautiful love story isn't diminished for me by knowing that Katya has since moved on with her life and found love again. She had a child with Ilya Kulik six years after Sergey died, and married him a year later; it's not like she jumped into his bed soon after this book was published! (And since Kulik is six years younger, he would have been a bit too young for her then anyway.) When you're widowed at such a young age, you should hardly be expected to be in mourning forever, and it may help the more current reader to not feel quite so sad at the end, knowing that this intense pain and sorrow isn't such an overpowering force in Katya's life anymore. And new husband or not, there's no denying that her first husband, her first love, was indeed the greatest love of her life.

What a wonderful story this was. I love to watch skating and have not missed watching an Olympics since I was a kid. I am familiar with a lot of the skaters mentioned in this book. I thought this story was so touching and full of emotion. Katia considers her life with Sergei almost too perfect. They were so in love and their life together was indeed a fairy tale. I commend Katia for being able to pick herself and go on with her life no matter how difficult after Sergei's unexpected death in 1995. I thought the comparison between Russian and American customs was very interesting. This was an enjoyable and heartwarming read.

I remember watching this pair when they were competing. I wasn't an ice dancing fan, but they were so incredible to watch, I started watching any competition they were in. When Sergei died, I was devastated for Ekaterina. When her book came out, I read it, and cried all the way through. But really, it isn't a sad ending. I find it to be very inspirational to see how Ekaterina faced the worst that could happen, and came out on the other side with a wonderful attitude and will to go on. It is now 12 years later, and this book STILL makes me cry, and still inspires me.

I read this book lastyear in the Hardcover edition and I cried. It is such a moving, loving, tragic, and heartwarming story full of love that a young widow had for her husband and skating partner and the child Daria that they had together. It told of their skating years, marriage, how they met, and came to america along with the tragic death of her young husband Sergei. I couldn't put this book down. A great story that you will love. Well written.

This is an all-encompassing authoritative biography of the last ruling Romanovs, and Massie has compiled a thorough and well-researched insight into the lives of Nicholas and Alexandra. Even forty years after its original publication and long after the fall of the Soviet Union, it is a relevant part of Russian history. Massie is very sympathetic in his presentation of the royal family and addresses pertinent questions about the fall of the monarchy. If Alexis, the heir to the throne, had not had hemophilia, would the influence of Rasputin not have been necessary? And if Rasputin were never in the picture, would the monarchy have suffered such a tarnished reputation?

The book painted a very vivid picture of the Royal Family based on hundreds of sources and letters. Nicholas is an incapable Tsar but a warm-hearted, devoted husband and father. Alexandra seems frantic and ill at ease (and often just ill) in her constant concern over the life of her son. And I love that I felt I got to know each of the children, Olga, Tatiana, Marie, Anastasia, and Alexis more individually and personally. This made their demise all the more heartbreaking. This book also gave me a greater understanding of the political climate of the time in Russia and a better comprehension of the revolution and the roles of Lenin, Trotsky, and other important players (although I occasionally found some difficulty keeping the various Russian names straight). Overall, this is a captivating book and the saga is all the more intriguing because it's history. I will definitely be interested to read some of the more recent material that Massie presents in The Romanovs: The Last Chapter.

I first read Nicholas and Alexandra many years ago as a 14 year old. It was a transformative experience for me, awakening what has been a lifelong passionate interest in royal biography and Russian history. Now that I'm in my early fifties, I recently reread Nicholas and Alexandra for the first time in about twenty years, and it continues to have the same magic.

Robert K. Massie became interested in the last Tsar of Russia because he, like Nicholas, was the father of a hemophiliac boy. Massie spent long hours reading about hemophilia and famous hemophiliacs, and he was fascinated by the way Russian and world twentieth century history turned on a chance genetic defect. Had Tsarevich Alexis not had hemophilia, it is probable that Tsar Nicholas II and his wife Alexandra would not have come under the malign influence of Gregory Rasputin, the Siberian faith healer who had a catastrophic effect on the Russian government before and during World War I; leading to the Russian Revolution, the rise of Communism, and the deaths of Nicholas, Alexandra, and their children. Its an interesting thesis that still holds up well, though Massie's focus on the inner tragedy of the Tsar's family tends to make him discount the many other problems from which pre-revolutionary Russia suffered. Massie also has a natural tendency to whitewash Nicholas and Alexandra (parents of hemophiliacs have a special bond with those who share their trauma, after all), by barely mentioning such negative traits as the Tsar's anti-Semitism and the Empress' many neuroses.

The book remains an extraordinary work of art. Massie's descriptions of the Russian landscape and his finely drawn character sketches are wonderfully rich and detailed. He is able to explain the political and social complexities of the era colorfully and wittily, even when dealing with such abstractions as the differences between Social Democrats, Social Revolutionaries, and Bolsheviks. Most of all, Massie is able to make us weep for the Romanovs: a man who was a bad Tsar but a good husband and father, a woman who destroyed her family while trying to keep her son alive, and five innocent young people who never had a chance to lead happy, productive lives. Every time I read Nicholas and Alexandra I tremble again at the thought of their last awful moments, but I am enriched still more by the chance to read such a magnificent work of art and scholarship.

In 2000, there was much talk about the "most important person of the 20th Century." My choice was always Gavrilo Princip, the young Bosnian assassin who killed Archduke Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary, igniting World War I, which caused the Russian Revolution, Communism, and the Treaty of Versailles, which led to Naziism, World War II, atomic bombs, and the Cold War.

Of course, there were other factors which formed the tragedy of the twentieth century, and perhaps some of these historical events would have happened anyway. Almost for certain, the Romanov Monarchy would have fallen or been transformed out of recognition without the help of Gavrilo Princip's bullets.

Although the Ottoman Empire was always referred to as "the sick man of Europe," Robert K. Massie illustrates that Russia was not very well either, despite appearances. An obsolescent autocracy, the Russian Empire was mired in time at the dawn of the twentieth century, the great mass of its people existing much as they had 100 years earlier.

Massie's theory, that the hemophilia of Alexis, the young Tsarevich, had an inordinate influence of Russian and subsequent world history, is well thought-out, though perhaps an oversimplification. Yet, it cannot be discounted. The Romanov Dynasty had ruled Russia then for 300 years, and brought the country, by fits and starts, slowly into the orbit of the modern world. Despite this, there is much truth in the observation that "Lenin inherited a nation playing beside a manure pile and Stalin bequeathed a nation playing with an atomic pile." This is not to defend Stalinism, but only to say how little the Romanovs did overall to modernize their State.

When Nicholas II inherited the throne after his father's untimely death, he was woefully unprepared to rule. Dominated for years by archconservative and anti-modernist members of his family, he did little to educate his people, provide health care, build infrastructure, or lift the heavy cloak of official repression that lay over all but ethnic Russians in his realm, or the cloak of cultural repression that lay over the ethnic Russians.

Yet Massie shows us a man and a family of uncommonly kind nature in Nicholas II and his family. His daughter Olga paid personally for the care of a handicapped subject she spied from her carriage one day. The Tsaritsa, Alexandra, despite a reputation as an uncaring woman, herself nursed sick friends before the war and horribly wounded soldiers during the war. The family built hospitals and schools in and around the various cities wherein lay the royal estates. They acted to ameliorate suffering wherever they saw it, without reservation.

Of course, this was the problem. They acted only on what they saw with their own eyes, never recognizing that these sufferings were endemic throughout the realm. Their myopia was part and parcel of the lives of the citified upper classes, completely divorced from the mass of agrarian peasants in the countryside, magnified by the hermetically sealed nature of being an Imperial Family, aided and abetted by sycophants and the self-serving, who kept the real world at a very long arm's length, in order to maintain their own privileged positions. Living in a bubble within a bubble, they were just not aware of conditions in most of Russia.

Nicholas II ruled over the largest domain on earth. Russia today is still the world's largest nation, even shorn of Finland, Poland, the Baltic States, Belarus, the Ukraine, the Central Asian provinces, and (in 1867) Alaska. Sunset in Vladivostok was dawn in Brest-Litovsk. His hundred million subjects included hundreds of peoples speaking hundreds of languages, linked together by a shockingly small road and rail system. The sensitive Nicholas, had he been really cognizant of the shape of things, could have, by a single order, vastly improved the lives of each and every Russian (of course, as he noted, being an autocrat and giving orders does not ensure that they are carried out properly). His greatest failings, as a ruler, all had to do with his decisions to outwardly maintain his Imperial hautre and his autocracy at all costs in the face of cataclysmic change.

This bubble-within-a-bubble existence however, could not spare them from the fact of the Tsarevich's hemophilia. A genetic disorder inherited through the female line (Alexis' Great-Grandmother was Queen Victoria, whose progeny were ravaged by the disease), it prevents the clotting of the blood. When Alexis was born in 1904, the world was a full lifespan away from the development of a usable clotting factor; most hemophiliacs simply bled out and died. The Tsarevich was protected by a full retinue, but this did not help him, and the boy was often in screaming agony and close to death from what might in another child, be a bad bruise. The Heir, therefore lived in a bubble within a bubble within a bubble.

The Tsaritsa, Alexandra, was a solemn, shy, but deeply emotional and loving woman, nicknamed "Sunny" by her husband. To the world, she presented an aloof exterior, and was extremely unpopular with her subjects. Had they known the sorrows and agonies she suffered through with Alexis, her realm, and history, might have treated her far better. But the Imperial Family decided to keep Alexis' condition a closely guarded secret, fearing the destabilization of the Monarchy and Russia in the face of a physically frail Heir. This may have been the Imperial Family's worst error, as it robbed them of an outpouring of sympathy and support from a passionate populace.

Alexandra turned to religion, and ultimately, to Gregory Rasputin, a filthy, degenerate, sexually perverse and personally dissolute monk of peasant extraction. Although derided by most, and called a charlatan by many, Rasputin was perhaps one of the most charismatic men in history, had a devoted following (largely comprised of Society women he'd seduced), did have the power, somehow, to control Alexis' bleeding episodes, and therefore, had the Empress's full and unwavering support in all things.

The feared and hated Rasputin may have indeed been a seer or had mystical powers of some sort, judging from circumstances. Rasputin was not really political, but as his influence over the Romanovs grew, his power expanded commensurately, and he was able to have Ministers dismissed, Generals reassigned to sinecures, and policies changed according to his own whims (expressed as messages from God) or concerns. Capable Russian leaders, who did not know the basis of Rasputin's power, suspected the worst of Alexandra, and in challenging Rasputin found themselves toppled from power. As World War I dawned, Russia was upside-down, its best men in internal exile, and woefully unprepared for war. Rasputin himself counseled against war, stating that Russia would collapse from within. Nonetheless, the British, German and Russian grandsons of Queen Victoria went to war.In that war, millions died, empires fell, nations were born, ideological political systems triumphed, and the stage was set for a darker and yet bloodier future.

The Tsar and his genteel family were consumed, ending their days against a wall before a Bolshevik firing squad, probably not understanding, until the end, that they had been in the eye of a hurricane that remade the world.

nicholas and alexandra should never had become czar and crazina of russia.nicholas was just to weak spirit and alexandra to strong without know the real russia people.she saw russian as childern who needed to be told how to run their lives by the papa czar.she hide her son illness and brought in a sexual twisted man of god into her family,ruin the romanov's relationship with it's people.stopping changes that would give citzen russian say in their country.in the end the people turn on the romanov's every thing end tragical.

I read this book many years ago and have never forgotten it, and I just recently purchased a copy of my own. Robert Massie is an excellent writer who makes this book memorable for the fun and loving family that the Romanovs were and their terrible, tragic end. I'm now collecting more books on the Romanov dynasty and the individual people who made up this fascinating family. For anyone with an interest, this is the place to start.

As noted in all previous reviews, this is a facinating book on Peter and Russian history.

However, it is a powerful book on organization skill. How do you bring in new cultures/learnings to an established environment. How do you manage your executives and the staff.

Was able to learn much.

There is much to digest, as it is long and has hundreds of characters. But a worthy work.

I regret that I am unable to find the NBC mini-series for purchase, As I have heard that it is just as well done.

I teach history and have read a lot of books. This is the best history book I have ever read. Massie does such an amazing job at bringing the reading into the age. Peter was a fascinating man. Massie makes you understand what made him also great.

Massie's work of Russian history is one of the fines biographies I have ever read. It keeps interest start to finish. It never gets boring at all, and that is important since the book is over 800 pages! Massie delves into the experience that made the man who is Tsar Peter The Great, yet at no time does it ever let down. It is exciting, readable, and very human. I enjoy Massie's book, and I intend to read more of his works

In short, I am an amateur historian of Russian history and found this biography to be very detailed, thoroughly researched biograaphy while at the same time reading as a top notch novel. I can't recommend it more. If you are interested in the man, this transitional period in Russian history or are after a great read, you won't be disappointed. Enjoy!

Massie's biography of Peter, the Czar of Russia is unquestionably author's best book.

For nearly quarter of a century Peter strode upon his nation like a colossus.Though tyrannical and cruel Peter unlike other Russian contemporaries was broad-minded and had progressive outlook toward life.Russian Czar was dynamic had unbridled curiosity and insatiable thirst for knowledge.

Old Muscovy state ,as author rightly puts it, was conservative,xenophobic rigidly adhering to antiquated ways.Interacting with foreigners in Muscovy's German suburb Peter realised how backward his nation really was.A fact which prompted him to undertake 'Great Embassy' to the West.Peter strove to modernise Russia particularly its armed forces incorporating latest in western technology.There was hardly a sphere of human endeavour in that nation which lay untouched by Peter's reforming zeal. Czar can rightly be dubbed the architect of modern Russia.

Czar's love for war,soldiering ,sea,ships,navigation lends colour to this biography.Big events of his life was Great northern War and founding of the city of St. Petersburg along the banks of river neva.In the former case, Peter wanted to make Russia a maritime power .this was not possible as long as Russia had no natural access to sea.In the south ,Tartars blocked Russia's route to sea and in the north Swedes controlled the Baltic coast.Peter's determination to break the stranglehold led to war with King Charles XII of Sweden.

The book is also a brilliant sweep of late 17th and early 18th century history.Author narrates Streltsy revolt which precede peter's accession to power,the reign of King Louis XIV of Bourbon dynasty,splendid court life of French nobility. Religious strife ,dynastic quarrels leading to wars of succession,rise of Holland, growth of Ottoman power and Glorious revolution in England.Hence I deem this book an essential reading for History buffs.

My only grudge is bibliography which looks inadequate considering the scale of research undertaken by the author for its production.Research notes not very impressive .However footnotes adequately compensates for this lacuna.

Book carries good quality maps especially on Battle of Poltava. Reader is easily able to follow the ebb and flow of the battle ; different manoeuvres practised by Swedish and Russian infantry and cavalry units.

On the whole,Massie has done an excellent job.

A good page-turner. This one will appeal to those who love WW II military stories and anyone who loves an odyssey through a dystopian landscape. Lev, a Jewish boy too young for the Soviet army, is arrested for looting the body of German bomber pilot that lands near his apartment. But instead of the usual punishment of a bullet in the head, he is sent on an impossible quest with Koyla, an army deserter Don Juan who fancies himself a conman. Their goal: locate a dozen eggs for a wedding cake to be made for a Russian colonel's daughter in a city under siege and without food. This story will grab ahold of you and keep you reading page after page.

City of Thieves has a story that pulls you in and keeps you reading. It tells a wonderful and horrible story of what the Russian people went through during their occupation of WWII. Benioff uses just the right amount of humor and characters that you really care about. Buy it!

I would like to spare you the same disappointment I had with this nearly flawless book. DO NOT READ THE PROLOGUE. I have no idea how the author, the editor, and publisher agreed to add those mere three pages that nearly ruin the rest of the book. But I'm glad I got over it and continued. This is an amazing book. I've read a lot of WWII era books, and this one is funnier and more entertaining than others. In my opinion, it is nearly a perfect book except for the ridiculous prologue.

As a history and chess buff, as well as one who's traveled in Russia, I wish I had picked up this novel much sooner. "City of Thieves" pulls us into WWII Leningrad with a frequently used technique--an author capturing on paper the accounts of his elderly relatives. But this time the technique is more than a fictional tool, it is a knife that cuts to the heart of Leningrad--in Hitler's words, "city of thieves"--and cuts back to the present with a nicely understated final sentence.

The story follows young Lev, a boy trying to survive the siege of his snow-covered city. His decision to plunder a German paratrooper's fallen corpse lands him in prison, where he prepares for his demise while realizing he'll never be a great Russian, a silent hero who braves the elements. He is young, weak, and scared. To his surprise, though, he finds himself on an unlikely quest the next morning, when he and another prisoner--a deserter from the Russian army--are told to go find a dozen eggs. Their captor's daughter is engaged to be married, and she needs eggs for her wedding cake. Eggs, in this war-torn region, are a luxury beyond words, and the search for them will lead Lev and his new friend Kolya from gruesome scenes to humorous moments to taut scenarios at the hands of the Nazis.

Lev is a wonderfully realized character, a boy who wants to be brave and worldy wise, but feels saddled with a sharp wit and large nose that don't always bode well in the Russian reality. Kolya is equally engaging, vulgar and crude, yet full of humor and wisdom, as well as a grand desire to be a noted novelist. Along their journey, they will become friends despite their differences, and they'll meet new acquaintances and enemies before it's all over.

Benioff creates a palpable landscape to match this setting among the dregs of history, and he gives us a very human story in the midst of atrocity. This is a mix of the heartwarming and stomach-turning, and in the end is a great addition to the tales to come from the Second World War because it's a tale about men and their desire to belong, whether in large or small ways.

This is a good yarn that is well told. Benioff is not a great stylist, but his writing is more than serviceable. What Benioff does best is tell a shaggy dog kind of story, a buddy story in an exotic location. As serious literary fiction, this book comes up short - both stylistically and in terms of character development it's rather stock - but I don't think that's Benioff's aim. Benioff isn't trying to be Ian McEwan. Rather he seems to be aiming for something higher than your standard bestseller in terms of literary quality but lower than lasting fiction. It's "tweener" fiction. Not many people are doing this. As a matter of fact, I can't think of anyone else who is doing this right now. You'd have to go back to another era. Benioff reminds me of the late Irwin Shaw in a lot of ways. He's smart and not afraid to be more than a little sentimental. The closest contemporary to Benioff is probably Richard Price, but Price is far more manic.

Ultimately, this is a good airplane flight read. It's educated entertainment, far better than you get with bestsellers. You can read it cover to cover easily flying from LA to NYC. You'll forget about it in a year or two and won't ever need to reread it, but it is fun and enjoyable.

As an aside, my father lived through the siege of Leningrad and told a lot of stories about those dark years. In terms of mood and setting, this book seems to ring true.

with over 20 stalingrad titles in my collection this book was impossible to put down,one of the best written well researched books i ve read in a very long time.at the price these are selling for it is an absolute steal!if i would have known how much i would enjoy it i would have payed double the going rate and never flinched.probobly the most absorbing aspects of this book is all the myth busting it does.stalingrad is one of those battles to which the "telephone game" syndrome has been deeply rooted a "fact" is used in some of the older less researched books and is re used by many authors without verification.this book disspells many of these,and proves with documentation why they are false.also does an excellent job at explaining how the 6th army wound up in the predicamement it did.lots of info on the crimea campaign and how this directly influenced the stalingrad battle. avery fairly priced book written in an excellent style .simply one of the best researched books i ve read in a long time worth every penny

You will not find a more diffinitive book on the Luftwaffe's activites in
operation Blau. I was happy to see that the siege of Sevastopol was well covered, I have found so little information in other books about that epic siege. The book does a very good job in explaining the terrible conditions at the outlying airfields trying to supply the 6th army,the lack of fuel,spare parts and the horrific weather conditions.
Hitler decided to try and take the Caucausas oil fields as well as Stalingrad. They had forces to take one,not both. They would have had much
greater success if they had just bombed the oil fields especially Baku which represented 80% of Russia's oil. Army group A and B could have bypassed Stalingrad,cutting the Volga river traffic and with a pincer movement, enveloped the Russian armies coming to the aid of Stalingrad.
Field Marshal's von Bock and List did all they could and were treated unfairly by Hitler. This book is great in showing the leadership qualities of Wolfram von Richthofen,clearly the most outstanding Lutwaffe commander of World War2.

This is a very good description of Luftwaffe Operations on the Eastern Front. It has good background information speciffically about the economic side of it. Decisions made based on oil supply's rather than military objectives. Very interesting material.
The only bad thing about this book is that the editing comes across as very sloppy. German names are often misspelled or incorrect. It is not Manstein, but von Manstein, not Bock, but von Bock, not Kluge, but von Kluge.
Also it is not Count von Sponneck but Graf von Sponneck. If you overlook those issues, it is a very good book

Very thoroughly researched book. Could have explained infantry operations in a little more detail after all most of the movements of the Luftwaffe happened in direct support of infantry movement. Could have given a little bit more weightage to characteristic traits of leaders involved in action. But all in all a very lucidly written book a definite buy for anyone interested in eastern theater of WWII

This book is a treasure. Saying it deals with just the Luftwaffe effort does not really address the scope of the book. In addition to the author's fabulous treatment of air operations, it has some great stuff on naval operations in the Crimea. This book is an absolute MUST for your WWII library. This guy is a lecturer at some college in New Zealand. Get him to some University in the USA!!

Great book, with great photos. Vladislav Tamarov writes in a simple style, but conveys the inner-thoughts, comraderie, fear and terror that a foreign soldier experiences in a war in Afghanistan. Despite being on different sides of the Cold War, and fighting for two totally different Afghan governments, I can identify with Tamarov's experience. A great book if you want a better understanding of a soldier's life in Afghanistan, with no in-depth analysis of the strategic or operational side of the Soviet-Afghan War.

I don't think anybody really supported the Soviets when they invaded Afghanistan in 1979-1980. Most Westerners thought the Soviet action was barbaric. Tamarov in his picture book makes us aware of the human side with the Russian soldiers. Most were following their duty and doing their "international duty". Many were killed in the low grade guerilla war that followed the invasion. Tarmarov was a mine sweeper, and he was constantly exposed to danger. Several of his friends paid the price of their occupation. One wonders about the similarities with American verterans of the Vietnam War. In fact, Tamarov meets some of these verterans at the end of the book, and they have a lot in common.

There is some writing in this large picture book. The writing did not flow smoothly, but the pictures were great. They show the guerrilla war in Afghanistan from the Russian perspective.

An excellent book! Lots of powerful pictures. Purchased the book from Amazon while serving in Afghanistan. Lots of flash backs/forwards in the story line, which I could have done without. But all together it's a well written, interesting book, which depicts a Soviet Solders tour of duty in Afghanistan.

This is the most amazing book I have read all year! It's not just a story, in his own words, from a young Russian soldier in that terrible place, but it is a photo book full of the most beautiful but tragic black and white photos. You see the haunted faces of Vladimir Tamarov (the author and photographer) and his brother soldiers, many of which did not make it back. And as you read his haunted words, how he came back and could not ever be the same, how his friends who died there visit him in his dreams. They were eighteen and nineteen but they look sixteen. The title "Soviet Vietnam" is quite haunting. I believe if I met the author now I would be reminded of our own boys who were damaged by Vietnam. They also were just draftees (conscripts) in a place where they did not want to be. As for our soldiers who are now in Afghanistan, it's true they are fighting the same vicious enemy as Vladimir did! But, don't our men look ever so much better fed, and organized, and equipped, and trained, then those poor Soviet conscripts? I reccommend this book so highly, I would personally buy a copy for all my friends.

As a paratrooper currently serving my second tour in Afghanistan (and third in the desert overall), I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the Soviet conflict of the 1980s. The photographs provide insight into Afghanistan's terrain and climate, and I used this book to illustrate several points to my subordinates as we were preparing for this deployment. The author's writing is heartfelt.

Great story, it was hard to read at times. The brutality of the Chetchen terrorists is unthinkable, EVEN BY TALIBAN STANDARTS !!

The herorism of the Russian soldgers that went all out to save as many children as they could restored some of my faith in humanity.

Great book that is something we should all read because it will happen here sooner or later!!!

This book should be be considered "must read" materials for parents with children attending school. The first 3 parts of the book addresses the terror attack itself and what the terrorists hoped to achieve. The last part talks about teaching your child to survive. In these days and times, children are "locked down" in a school when something happens. If I were a terrorists or just a VT or Columbine nutcase I would thank you for teaching your child to sit and wait for me. Please read this book and help keep your children alive. Even if you only read part 4 of the book, it will be worth it.

Wow! A real eye opener. What has become of the human race?! This book is very powerful. Written to "capture" you from the first page. We live in a world with so very many differences. Wars have been fought from the beginning of time. Children have lost their lives due to "collateral damage". And now, our school are being targeted. Not to destroy, but to use our children as weapons. This book brings out our need to become aware of the dangers that now exist within our own country. "We're not in Kansas anymore".

A fantastic book that connects the dots of terrorist acts in Russia to those in the U.S., the Middle East, Africa and Israel. Should be required reading for school administrators, military and law enforcement officers.

The attrocities committed by the terrorists are difficult to read about, but necessary in order to understand. I applaud the author for recognizing the contributions that can be made by the general population. It has been a long time since the public at large have been engaged in the defense of this country, and that needs to change as soon as possible.

I waited a long time to get this book, because it was sold out everywhere I looked, and now I understand why.

This story is a tragedy through and through. What happened in Russia cannot be allowed to happen here. It's time to stop being politically correct pandering to fanatics. These people do not understand good will, they only respect ferocity that is greater than their own.
Mr. Giduck puts you on the ground, at the school. You will hear the children , you will feel the anguish, and you will become angry. You will not be able to put this book down.
SSG John Tidona
NYG G3 NCOIC

I originally got this book from a local library along with 5 or 6 others on international adoption. I am set on adopting from Russia as I am actually from there (lived there until I was 20), and am fully bi-lingual. I read the other books first and returned them to the library quickly. And then I started reading this book. I realized right away that I would have to get my own copy of it.
I am actually going through the process independently, without an agency, and I don't think I would be able to do it without this book. I cannot believe how familiar the author is with regional offices, hotels, embassies. It's like he's worked as a facilitator in several regions before writing this.
There are some misspellings and typos in the book, and please don't learn Russian from it (just common sense, really - I didn't learn my English from a Russian :)) ), but if you want to understand exactly how your adoption process is going, buy this book. It is a reference to be used and consulted again and again throughout the process.
The book also has chapters on some former USSR republics, so if you're adopting from Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan and such, this is also very helpful.

This book is chock full of specific and useful information, everything from shopping for agencies to how to evaluate a child before you adopt for potential medical/developmental issues (including a list of pediatricians who specialize in international adoption) to what to put on line 12 of form I-600A. He describes the regions and gives web addresses for online information. The most recent edition is from 2004 and as international adoption rules seem to change frequently, it would be great if the author did another more current edition. It seems the changes are more 'in word' than 'deed' however, and the gist of things is much the same. As someone just beginning the journey, this book has already helped me make major and solid decisions. Maclean is honest and doesn't talk down to you. This is for parents who want to be active, engaged advocates for their children even before you've met them and has good info. about countries other than Russia as well.

This is the everything you need to know about Russian adoption in one book guide. It is a little dated right now with re-accreditation issues starting in 2005, but it is still a very relevant and important guide to adopting from Russia. I suggest purchasing this book before you choose an agency as it gives lists of very important questions to ask a potential agency. This book breaks down the Russian adoption process and walks PAPs through the paperwork they will be filing. There are chapters on everything from what to pack to how to find a good pediatrician. We pulled chapters about our region and questions to ask doctors trip one out of the book and traveled with them. This is one book about adopting from Russia all PAPs need to read.
Written by Christina Stinsa

I just adopted my son from Russia and this book made everything so much easier! It should be a must have for all prospective adoptive families!!!

There is a lot of general information contained in one easy to navigate location. I do recommend it highly, especially for one who is just beginning the adoption process. The only problem is that things are changing so fast, that even though the book was recently updated, it is already somewhat out of date.

If you like Russian food, this one is a winner! I've only tried about a half-dozen or so recipes so far, but they were all very good and relatively simple. The instructions are clear, and serving sizes are accurate.

As 1st generation Russian I was pleasantly surprised by this book. Variety of dishes is delightful. There is something for every occasion, from deserts to dinner dishes and breakfasts. Some of the favorites like pelmeni and sirniki I remember from my childhood.

However, I do have 3 Big problems with this book:
1 - most of the recipies here are NOT for traditional Russian dishes. Former Soviet Union nations like Georgia and Armenia have really tasty food but it is very different from the type of things ethnic Russians eat. If you're looking specifically for Russian dishes, this book doesn't give that many options.

2 - this book is for cooks with A LOT OF TIME ON THEIR HANDS! Busy Russian women just don't spend all day to make borscht from two dozen ingredients. If you don't have all day to cook, you will get pretty frustrated with huge ingredient lists.

3 - many recipies require ingredients that aren't easily found in grocery stores. If you don't live in a major city where there many ethnic and specialty grocery stores, be aware, you may have to improvise or order things on-line

You can really tell the effort that the authors of this cookbook took to research thoroughly all the various cuisines of Russia. They spent three years researching and traveled halfway around the world, interviewing, tasting, cooking. It really shows.

I wish everyone else gave that kind of effort in writing every book written. The quality of world literature would skyrocket.

If you have even a passing interest in Russia, or food, or cooking, or even history, look no farther. This book will entertain you.

As a cookbook, though, be advised: This isn't "Russian Cooking for Dummies". Russian dishes frequently require hard to find ingredients, specialized hardware, lots of time, and a great deal of culinary skill. I consider myself a good amateur chef, and I dare not try the more complex recipes provided. Russian women evidently have lots of time to prepare meals and have a great deal of experience and skill.

If you have never read a cookbook just for fun, that's about to change. You won't regret it.

As a family of emigrants from Russia living in the US, we've been exposed to Soviet cooking all of our lives. This book has a pleasant collection of recipes coming from all over the former USSR, and it is indeed a great reference for someone who enjoys cooking and has a lot of free time to do it. However, we find that most of the recipes are over-complicated. We make "kotlety" and "bortsch" quite often, and we have tried the recipes listed in this cookbook for testing. The results were good enough, but not much better than the usual, if at all. The recipes also required much more time and attention to detail than we are used to in making these dishes, and that extra effort didn't seem to pay off. Not a good reference for someone who's into Russian cooking on a day-to-day basis.

This is a book that I really really wanted to like, but which has some irritating quirks of format, editing, and omission that could have been avoided with some better editing.

STRENGTHS:
* Unlike all too many books out there, the author(s) went to the commendable effort of discussing the regional differences in cuisine amongst the many countries that used to comprise the USSR, and they provide recipes for each in separate chapters. Major kudos for that. I wish that other all-in-one type books on Chinese, Italian, Indian, and (to a lesser degree) American cuisine were as diligent. Such nuances add clarity and focus to one's comprehension of foreign cuisines.

WEAKNESSES:

* First of all, the title is a little off. This is a book about SOVIET cooking, because it covers many regions within what (at the time it first came out) was still the USSR (of which Russia is was only one country among many).

* FORMAT/LAYOUT: I think the publisher went a bit overboard in trying to stretch the page count to make the book appear far more encyclopedic than it actually is. Through a combination of recipe headings printed in oversize fonts, wasteful margins, a plethora of useless sidepanels that add little of value, and overly generous line spacing, the publisher managed to stretch this book to 659 pages. If they'd used the same layout and font size used by Julia Child, this book would probably be well under 250. A page count of 659, in order to cover 400 recipes, most of them fairly modest in length and complexity, represents a lot of needlessly wasted paper, and it reduces the book's readability. The New Joy of Cooking, for instance, has almost 4x as many recipes in roughly the same page count. In this book, a recipe that SHOULD be less than 1 page is stretched out to 2 or 3.

* TABLE OF CONTENTS: There doesn't seem to be a convenient list of recipes anywhere in the book - there's only the table of contents (which merely overviews each chapter in general terms), and the index (which is arranged by searchable ingredients).

* GAPS: Despite the commendable efforts by the authors to cover many of the provinces of the old USSR, there are still some gaps - some small, some gaping. Some of the smaller gaps involve having dedicated too little space to pickled dishes (only 17 pages), and dressed cold salads (19 pages), both of which are FAR more prominent and commonplace in working-class Soviet cuisine that the book would have you believe. A particularly glaring gap is a total void regarding caviar. All that you'll find in this book is 3-4 call outs for cooked or smoked sturgeon meat, and 2 recipes that call for salmon roe, even though the caspian is the virtual culinary homeland of sturgeon caviar. A book on russian cuisine that omits caviar is lie a book on American cuisine that omits apple pie. At least the authors covered borsht and infused vodka.

In my opinion, this book would benefit from some fairly substantial re-editing and layout optimization to refine its focus, eliminate wasted space, improve indexing, and fill in some culinary gaps.

When I first opened this book I was afraid, afraid because of how big a classic it is, because I'd never read Dostoevsky before and because there was the faint possibility of me not liking it.

All my trepidation was unjustified, on this wonderfully conceived masterpiece, Dostoevsky shows how great a storyteller he is, building a wide range of characters that are both complex and real, displaying great insight into human nature and meticulously developing and carrying the plot to its climax.

But it's not perfect, but, then again, nothing is, the mostly lengthy and wordy dialogs feel more like a collection of monologues, than, well, dialogs, which is, although Dostoevsky manages to keep a constant tension to the bulk of them, a little irritating and unrealistic.

This is an awesome book! It is not an easy read, but it rewards close reading. It's about a struggling Russian college student named Raskolnikov, who decides to kill a certain old moneylender (and a nearby witness) just to see if he can get away with it, and also to take her valuables so that he can cash them in at a later time.

But he is haunted by feelings of guilt and paranoia. His faithful friends and family are unaware of his heinous crimes. They shower the sickly Raskolnikov with unconditional love and acceptance, and it makes him even sicker with guilt. He can hardly keep from discussing the crimes with others, and it rouses the suspicions of the police.

The book is more or less a commentary on Psalm 32, with its timeless expression of guilt and release. It is also a commentary on the Lazarus story of John chapter 11 from the New Testament.

The book puts you inside the mind and heart of a criminal, and it will stay with you long after the last page is read. One of the greatest books of all time.

So let me ask a question in a primitive, modern way...

Is this damn thing any good? Uh, yeah.

Fyodor's novel is called one of the greatest ever written for a reason. It is a masterful work, filled with suspense, fascinating characters, great atmosphere, intelligent dialogue, twists and turns, and a great, satisfying ending. It is a true cerebral novel, one that really emulates Dostoyevsky's outlook on life and art itself. Raskolnikov is one of the most fascinating, well known characters in all of literature, and even to this day, he is still talked about and discussed. This book, along with Notes from the Underground, are my favorite Dostoyevsky novels.

I also love this book because it shreds the idea of Nietzsche's "superman" ideal. Many have grossly misinterpreted Dostoyevsky's attitude towards Raskolnikov. Some make the argument that he is a model of the Nietzschian superman. Raskolnikov certainly acts like the "superman", thinking that since he has a superior intellect that that entitles him to, essentially, shred off the chains of the morality that governs others, and that he is free to do what he wishes, as the laws of "lesser men" don't apply to him. Fyodor, however, does not agree with this and shows that it is a false assumption that intelligent people make when they believe they are superior to anyone. We can argue the wider point that the Nietzschian superman isn't a superman at all, but an arrogant, deluded man who puts himself above everyone because he believes he is superior to everyone. Raskolnikov is exactly like this, until reality and Sonia make him realise that he isn't the Superman at all, just another human being, and a deeply human one at that. I believe many people who interpret Dostoyevsky as "pro-Superman" (in the Nietzsche sense, not the Marvel Comics one) are simply putting their own personal beliefs on Dostoyevsky's prose, and are not looking at the novel with clear and thoughtful eyes.

This is a wonderful novel, one of the greatest ever written, and one that can be revisited again and again.

I don't think any book creates the inner tension like this one. This and Brothers Karamzov are must reads of FD.

What can I say that hasn't been said already?
This is probably the best fictional study of the effects of guilt and radical ideas on a troubled mind. The prose is flowing, and it's not hard to see why Dostoevsky considered his novels "poems".
Dostoevsky's works in general are marred by a flaw I prefer to ignore as much as I can, and in this novel it is hardly present. Dostoesky's politics are odious, his nationalism, anti-Semitism, and anti-Polish sentiments absolutely ruined a section of The Brothers Karamazov for me and in The Gambler I felt their effect dramatically. They only crop up once in Crime and Punishment, that is when (plot spoiler coming soon) Svidrigailov is about to shoot himself, when Dostoevsky describes the Jewish guard as having "that sour look common to all members of that tribe", or something very close to those words.
All in all, I feel that Dostoevsky's politics can be excused, and prefer to focus on the positive attributes of his writing. There are many, and it isn't difficult.