Russia Books

More than a history of arranging Soviet defectors to escape, this gives an intense perspective from time and age. It would make a wonderful screenplay for a Spielberg adoptation. As an American Jew I am proud to know that James Milano performed like Oskar Schindler when he learned firsthand of the German policy of extermination. The gripping chapter on the Mauthausen concentration camp describes Milano's feelings: "Now, after the war, the nightmare stories were proved true- and short of the truth." Milano's moto of making the damn decision after an intelligent manipulation of risk descibes why his operations were so successful. Because we know that Milano himself is the primary source, it fortifies the accuracy of the amazingly clandestine rat line. I highly commend this exciting book.

There are many books to be found on clandestine intelligence operations. Most of these focus on the organs of the US State Department, and corresponding agencies in other countries. This book is a rare gem in that it deals with military intelligence operations and techniques, and provides an extremely useful insight into operational procedures used by US military intelligence during and immediately after the Second World War. For this alone it is worth the purchase, but the authors also manage to amaze and intrigue along the way with tales of operations gone wrong as well as the flotsam and jetsom of post war Europe.

This is a first hand account of CIC operations in the cockpit of the Cold War-Austria. It is now little remembered that Austria was the only European country occupied by the Soviets to be evacuated during the Cold War. (Although in Asia, they did leave Iran and North Korea.)Both sides' focus was on the North German plain, the traditional invasion route between East and West, and vice versa. Not the southern route from the Adriatic through the Ukraine. Thus the major Allied intelligence effort was was in Germany. Most of the activities described herein are the usual tradecraft--doubling agents, honey traps, sneak and peek, etc. This would be just another tale and not of great importance, except for the Rat Line. This was a clandestine evacuation operation run for persons escaping from the Soviet-controlled areas. Because the occupation of Austria ended in 1955, and Austria was then neutralized, it was easier to run penetration and escape operations from there than through the hard border further north. Actually, there were more than one Rat Line. It is said that Martin Bormann, Adolf Eichman, and other top Nazis escaped via Italy. Be that at it may, Klaus Barbee did get out in a U.S. sponsored operation. But the U.S. Rat Line was more important for getting out persons of intelligence value, who once debriefed, had to be put under deep cover in a safe place. (Imagine a witness protection program, but with the whole USSR intellops looking for you, instead of a few mobsters.)This is probably the last first-hand account of CI field ops we will get of those days. After all, all of the vets are well over 70 and most were middle aged then. I also recommend Ib Melchior's book on his service as a CI agent. (cf)

I am buying this book for all of my friends. I was only sorry that the book ended. Man or woman - it doesn't matter - this is a wonderful book that puts you in touch with their world and presents life's questions in a very contemporary way. It seems like she's sitting with you in conversation today. Very compelling. Now my task is to find more on her as well as read Tolstoy - slowly, very slowly and fully. What a wonderful road ahead.

Saw a preview for this book and was not disappointed when I received it. The photos are amazing - I am in awe that she was able to create such thoughtful, creative images with the limits of photography and where she was living!

The book combines her photos, her handwriting and wonderful writing by the author. The writing is mindful and clean - not esoteric and flowery but interesting and insightful!

Bought one for me and one for a friend! Not just for photographers but history buffs and artists of all kind!

This is A MUST for the following people: Who've read Tolstoy's two historical books; a photographer; those who love diaries and their insight to the person; Russaphiles; and last, but certainly not least, anyone who is interested in the development of a woman and the feminist inclinations. Truly an invaluable contribution to the 19th Century, for all these perspectives. She was an incredible woman!

Bolshevik political ideology held contemporary European art movements such as Cubism and Abstract Modernism in contempt. The Soviet Union authorized, supported and fostered a naturalist oriented art movement from the 1930s through the 1980s. Thanks to the Cold War politics of the Kremlin, Russian artists created a realist school of painting, while the Communist government did what it could to suppress Soviet Impressionist paintings -- many of whose art works still managed to be smuggled out into western markets and find their way into European and American museums. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, scholars and art critics were finally able to appreciate Soviet impressionist art and arts. Now a compilation of the best of that art is showcased, along with an informed and informative commentary, in the 463-pages that comprise "Soviet Impressionist Painting" by Vern G. Swanson and published by the Antique Collectors' Club. Profusely illustrated with superb reproductions throughout, "Soviet Impressionist Painting" is enhanced with the inclusion a Chronology of Soviet Art; a glossary, extensive endnotes, a bibliography, a listing of the illustrations, and a comprehensive index. A seminal contribution to 20th Century Art reference collections and supplemental reading lists, "Soviet Impressionist Painting" is highly recommended for personal, academic, and community library collections.

I thought I would never own this book as the out of print version was running from $300 up to $800!!!!?!?. That was for a book only a few years old. This one will be the same. This publisher tends toward the lower print runs so I suspect this item will be history (so to speak). As an artist my point of view is all about the images. I read the books that are honest assesments of the work and not deconstructionis bs (read Michael Fried). This book offers a fair assesment of the work being shown with no illusions regarding the setting within which the art work was created. In the introduction we read, "...they (critical western writers) imagined that in a controlled society all art was necessarily bad, because artists can only create in absolute freedom. Yet few in the West could name a single Soviet artist or visualize any of their paintings. What we had were blanket dismissals from the ill-informed." This book is about dispelling those blanket dismissals. Apart from all that, when the artwork is taken at face value, the work presented is a mindblowing celebration of talent. With awe I read artists name after name without any recongnition and realized the treasure this book begins to expose. The images are beautiful. The editors were not afraid to run an image over the gutter to show its best impact within the confines of the book. This is a book that will be read and studied for years. If you are a fan of Sorov, Sorolla, Fechen, etc....this is the mother load. The cover art is a good representation of the quality and kind of work you will find inside.

Covering Soviet realist art from the 1930s to the 1980s, this impressive volume Soviet Impressionist Painting is a revelation. The well written and accessible text is both interesting and informative, explaining the prevailing conditions which influenced the artists and their work. The reproductions of the paintings are interspersed with the text, and vary from smaller than postcard size to the double page spread, one quibble here is that the text and the image to which it refers rarely appear on the same page, but usually two or three pages apart; with illustrations on every page this seems an odd arrangement. It concludes with a twenty five page chronology of Soviet art.

Perhaps because of their initial impact, the first impression is that the majority of pictures here depict happy workers off to the field, smiling families and cheerful youths. However this is not strictly the case, there are more pensive portraits and groups, and there is a fair sprinkling of landscapes along with a few still life and some nudes.

What really stands out, regardless of subject matter, is the quality of the painting; vibrant and energetic, with lively brush work and a strong sense of light these pictures cannot fail to appeal. Here the quality of the photography and printing come to the fore, one can sense the texture of paint and the brush work, adding greatly to the vitality of the work. The colour reproduction is superb, rich and at times vivid or even luminous; the paintings truly come to life on the page.

This is genuinely a sumptuous volume, lavishly illustrated almost entirely in colour. Grab a copy while you can before this one goes out of print.

I finished the "The Spirit of Russian Science" by Prof. M.E.Levinshtein in one day.

I was sick, had a bit of a fever and could not do much. So I got "The Spirit" to get some distraction. And distraction I got! I started to smile from the very first page and constantly called my husband to come to my room so I could read out loud to him and laugh with him again. I could not stop either reading or smiling and often laughing until the very end of the book.

It is a great book about people who create, practice and breathe Science every day of their lives. It is also about how they live, work and manage to have a lot of fun regardless of poor living conditions.

Lots of my friends have borrowed "The Spirit", I actually had a waiting list at one point, and the comments were always most favorable with a request to keep it another day or two for a husband/wife to finish.

I am delighted "The Spirit" is published in English and am getting several copies for my friends. The publication of this book in English has solved, at least for a while, a problem with Christmas/New Year, end of school year and birthday presents.

Enjoy the book,

Lara Yendler

My name is Irina Semenova, I'm a scientific fellow at the Ioffe Physical Technical Institute in St.Petersburg, Russia.

Recently I had a great pleasure reading a book "The Spirit of Russian Science" by Michael Levinshtein. To my mind it is one of the best books of this kind.
The author has a good sense of humor and ability to notice such small but very important things as glances, comments, gestures etc. which bring all the spices to human relations and communications.
Unfortunately nowadays people are so busy with an enormous amount of urgent everyday things that the ones who have a potential ability to write something similar don't have time to do or even think about doing that. Although such a book gives a chance to stop in the everyday race for a little while and think
what is really important in life and what is not.

I am absolutely sure the book will be very successful and gone very quickly.

The author of the book writes in his introduction that "The Sprit of Russian Science"
charms him by the of certain atmosphere, the style of relationships between the people.
After reading "The Sprit of Russian Science", like any other good prose, there comes a need of a dialogue with an author. You need to pinpoint all the features of intangible spirit that was so well portrayed in the book. You unavoidably see the author as a human being with great deal of will power, enormous ability to survive and rather significant influence on people.
"The Spirit..." is ironic and wise, cynical and sentimental, rather optimistic and at the same time soaked in all the troubles of modern reality. And after all, it's not that important whom the turns pout to resemble: Baron Munchauzen, Tile Ulenshpigel, brave soldier Shveyka or Jvanetsky's lyric hero? "The Spirit..." isn't "teachy" or "preachy", he doesn't require adoration, and that is why so many a time my hand seeks the book, and doesn't get tired of discovering and rediscovering it.
I think that the power and the charm of "The Spirit..." are only in its appearance, but in its inside all-sufficient that is so powerful that it energizes anybody who touches it one way or the other.
Being employed as an instructor of Russian Linguistics in Technical University (Taganrog Radiotechnical State University), I always appreciated the charming atmosphere of professionalism and genuine humor that our instructors-physicists created. Most of them in their forties or fifties, they have attended Moscow, Rostov and other state academic institutions all over the Russia, their souls have obviously drunk that fairy tale liquor that has "The Spirit...".
It's seems as if "The Spirit..." isn't alone in this world. He has blood siblings that are scattered on numerous islands of professionalism, quality work and culture that still manage to exist in Russia. And although author's end isn't quite a happy one: "We are writing applications, receiving grants, working abroad. But the doors are closing slowly but steadily. Equipment is aging, the fittest are leaving, and those who are left are getting weaker...But the doors are closing. " I want to believe that everything is not as bad as it seems.
I draw resources for hope from my personal experiences. Russian workaholics of today, living in America, miss Russia. They still keep in touch with their Russian friends, family and colleagues. And last but not least, this "The Spirit..." identified by the author, goes on living here, on the foreign soil.
Here, like in Saint Petersburg, Moscow or tiny Taganrog, small groups of people are formed that are capable to appreciate high quality work, that are capable of not being afraid of work, and of keeping sense of humor in any circumstances.
New life will demand continuation of this book, but I want to thank the author for what's already written. I realize what kind of work you have endured by gathering accidental jokes scattered in the stream of every day's reality.
The author succeeded in saving in his writing the style, the language and genuine charm of real life.
Of course the elements of Russian "get-together" and masculine folklore add certain spice to the overall dish of the book, but most of all I appreciate something else about it. Having read the book in quite unfavorable for myself circumstances, I realized: life isn't over yet, and our sadness has to be light, no matter what. It seems like this book is able to settle optimism and love of life in any mind and do it in a very easy and elegant manner.
Today "The Spirit..." lives like we all do, through difficult and surprising times.
And one more thing. When my sixteen-years-old daughter, who according to unwritten laws of her age, neglected the ideals of her parents, read the book with the same pleasure as myself, I have secretly celebrated. But when she wrote a version of review of "The Spirit...", I was puzzled. The review was sincerely encomium, only it was written in English... Having lived in America for two years, my daughter didn't loose the ability to be influenced by unknown to her "The Sprit of Russian Science", but it became easier for her to express her emotions in English and in typical American manner.

I sighed deeply and thought: "But maybe this is good?" "The Sprit of Russian Science" is alive and respected by us, and our children are able to comprehend it. So let it take its second breath, and let life bring into this new process its own sudden corrections.
"We are born to make fairy tale reality."

Maya Solovieva, Ph. D.,
Instructor of Russian Language
Currently residing in the United States

Not only is the author obviously erudite about his subject matter, he is in love with it, making this book more than just an outsider's account of a city's cultural history. Exploring the 'mythos' of St. Petersburg through the work and lives of many of the creative spirits who either lived here or reflected the city in their works -- Pushkin, Gogol, Dostoyevski, Akhmatova among the better-known -- Volkov brings to life the very streets, houses, and canals of a great city on the border of Russia and Europe. But even more, his reader has the great pleasure of being accompanies on this journey by the very Russian-intellectual thoughtfulness and erudition, 'intelligentnost', of the author. Warmly recommended indeed.

Solomon Volkov is a sorcerer. He will have you chuckling out loud one minute & weeping the next! In the pages of this book, you will come to know the people of St. Petersburg; their glory, their sorrow, their passion, their genius. Volkov has brought this immortal city across the ocean and planted it firmly in my heart. It has instilled in me a deep appreciation for the talents of those who, in some cases, forfeited theirs lives for the sake of creative freedom.

Solomon Volkov has prepared for Western readers a breathtaking history of St. Petersburg's cultural treasures. Anyone who has seen "The Nutcracker Ballet" should read this book. Volkov brings forth the great ballet artists, classical music composers, painters, and writers who were centered in St. Petersburg, Russia's "window on Europe". Most of these great artists are as familiar to western readers as Tchaikovsky. But we are also introduced to equally great artists, poets, and writers we didn't know before. The introduction is invaluable. Underlying the "stars" of center stage, and running throughout the 300 years of cultural history is a constant reference to the "mythos of St. Petersburg" which Russian emigres worldwide will recognize with longing and affection. It is important to learn of the deeply-felt magical aura this city imposed on the artists and writers who lived there, including on Solomon Volkov himself.

Amazing biography of one of the greatest Russian saints. Very detailed, very emotional. Quite a few great illustrations. Get it and it will change your life.

For anyone who thinks that monks are eccentrics or that their lives have nothing to teach us, has Fr. Lazarus Moore got news for you! St. Seraphim of Sarov, a Russian saint of the last century, "fought the good fight" every day of his life, and he changed the lives of thousands around him. This is an amazing story. Read it!

Saint Seraphim of Sarov: A Spiritual Biography, is the best account I have read regarding Saint Seraphim. The author lived the Orthodox ascetic life in the Russian tradition and knows something about the Saint from the inside, as it were. This account has the most information I've seen, and is the thickest book on him I've seen as well. It might be said that 'the Saint is in the details!' Many of his experiences are akin to the experiences of Saint Anthony the Great of the Egyptian Thebaid. Something I didn't realize were the reasons for which he spent 1000 days and nights on his knees on a rock in the forest praying to God. After having reached an exalted state of holiness, he fell into a sin in his thoughts, a(read: 1) sin of judgement against another monk. In his sin, according to Father Lazarus, he suffered such a catastrophic fall, sin in thought only though it was('the little ones to dash upon a stone'), that this 'banishment from Paradise' was only healed after such a cross-bearing penance on that rock-"My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?" Go ahead and buy this book be you an Orthodox Christian or seeker, or anyone interested in an icon of the Apostolic life lived with the greatest zeal and faithfulness to God. The story of how the bear came and ate right out of Saint Seraphim's hand is in there as well!

This was a really good book. It was easy to read - actually it was hard to put down. It was informative and I liked that the author said what he wanted to say and then stopped - he didn't drone on for an additional hundred pages. He doesn't cover all the details, just the essential ones. I particularly thought he did a good job describing the effects of the communist system on the Russian generals - how the purges caused them to sacrifice many divisions to save themselves from being purged.

This book clearly justifies the rational behind the cold war It proves Stalin had no insight in the menace that Hitler was.in spite of overwhelming evidence that Hitler's treaties were not worth the paper they were written on.

Splendid book, I had to stop reading this book often because I could not read the suffering of the heroic Russian people, Men, women and children, murdered cruelly by the German killers.
The unfortunate Russian people had that to fight in two fronts, against the German killers who wanted to exterminate it and against his tyrants chiefs, the communists, and fought very well, exceptionally well. Unfortunately, even today, the comprehension of the difference between Russia and the communism has not been obtained, and the negative news of Russia is praised and the positive news is silenced. Recently an oligarch exiled in London, after stealing public money and from the citizens of Russia, it has been allowed to do declarations saying that it was preparing a military coup against Putin.
Would England allow these declarations against the United States or France? What must think the Russians of the countries who give asylum to these delinquents and allow them to be so aggressive with Russia?
Not a country suffered as Russia suffered and the reward of the western world when it get the democracy is cut it in pieces for the oil and for make it a more weak country. Of course USA is the principal guilty but the UE also.
The natural consequence is that Russia see more himself and to the East. and remember that Talleyrand said " Russia is never so weak or so strong as she seems".
I repit, a splendid book that lights a inicial period of war always forgotten and from a russian point of view that take account many small histories that the foreign historiers usually don' t write about.
The suffering of the Russian normal citizens was beyond our western comprehension and, sadly, the understanding of them still continue very, very low. Even now with a depression deeper that that of the United States in the 30s, not any country helps to the poor, orphans or elders of Russia, leaving them his luck, there has been no Plan Marshall, not a cent of his debt with other countries has been excused to him .
Strange form to help a country.
This book is a good light about the suffering of Russia .

Briefly - this multi-layer book is a masterpiece of modern political science. This history of Romanian Communism is one particular case speaking crystal-clear about global Communism . Due to Vladimir Tismaneanu and his history of Romanian Communism we have an accurate, a splendid x-ray of Communism in the world.
-----------------
More than that this book is as a wonderful political novel - written by Vladimir Tismaneanu with genius and, believe me, plenty of fine, ironical humor.

-----------------
Therefore, reading this work, you can easily re-make historically and politically the whole nightmare of the Communist era, in Romania, and in Europe, and world-wide as well. Yes - a tragic nightmare. A disaster.
-----------------
Vladimir Tismaneanu presents to us, with knowledge and skills of a master in laser-surgery, the anatomy and the functions of this Monster , Communism - alas ! somehow still alive . His lesson is a fundamental lesson about humankind's fatal errors and disasters ... which we do not have the right to repeat and re-live. At least, because you have to admit this terrible reality: nazism = communism = Islamic terrorism. At last but not at least, considering this irrefutable truth - I warmly recommend you the lesson of Vladimir Tismaneanu, his work as a unique book of our modern times. A healing book !
-----------------
And, for this lesson, we definitely have to be grateful, from the bottom of our hearts, to Vladimir Tismaneanu - who is practically the genuine creator of the modern school of Romanian political science.

After "Stalinism for All Seasons" it must be truly depressing to consider writing books of political sociology on the topic of the communist grand narrative. This is not only because Tismaneanu's opus, the outcome of a lifelong fascination with the topic, is so well-stocked with quality historical data (his archival research, and access to unique resources can hardly be replicated), but also because the author is a genuine maestro of both analytical insight and of a captivating writing style.
It is astonishing how he managed to strike the right balance between a sociological-political excursus of great analytical accuracy with a novel-like narrative that stretches over almost a century and whose charm ruins your work agenda for several days.
Although the book's focus is the case of the pariah Romanian Communist Party, Tismaneanu immerses this case in the wider phenomenon of world communism. The reader is stunned to discover, en premiere, the constitution of informal transnational party networks and narratives that spanned from Vietnam to Greece, and Romania. Particularly fascinating are Tismaneanu's foray into mechanisms of Leninist and Stalinist manipulation of the (rather excessively)romanticized world communism" of the 20s and 30s, as well as his treatment of the role of memory, charisma, nationalism and aesthetics in the ascension, ossification and in the decay of the party.
We have access to the operationalization of general issues of interest for political scientists such as puzzling hybridizations of mechanisms for political power conquest and maintenance, the crucial role of personalities (that escapes facile research designs accomodation), how resources are distributed and conflits are settled in opaque political machines.
For those interested in how birth pathologies impact the subsequent development of radical political projects that end up reaching the lands of dystopia, this read is undoubtedly set to be on list of classics.

Professor Tismaneanu, one of the sharpest analysts in the field of Eastern European politics, has written what is no doubt the definitive comprehensive study of the Romanian Communist Party. Brilliantly written and painstakingly researched over many years, the work will be appreciated by anybody interested in Eastern European politics or the stalinist system and its various deviations.

A solid political science work, the prose is lively and the entire work, complete with the cast of characters at the end, reminds me more of Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury than other blander political analyses.

A superb book.

An African man in Russia? Sounds far fetched but it's true Abram Petrovich Gannibal was one such man who came from slavery to preeminence in 17th century Russia. This novel attempts to find exactly where this enigmatic man came from and how he became a favorite of Tsar Peter the Great. Using clues from Gannibals letters, which reveal him to have an elusive personality, and accounts from poet Alexander Pushkin's Eugene Onegin, which are a more fiction than fact, the author attempts to track Gannibals journey from his African homeland, through the Ottoman Empire and finally to Russia. Along the way a cast of other colorful charactes reveal themselves and some are most beneficial to Gannibal. After gainig Peter the Great's favor Gannibal is educated in Paris and becomes an accomplished mathmetician, draftsman, and even pyrotechnic engineer. Yet as time passes and new rulers come to the throne Gannibal soons finds himself out of favor. Nonetheless his heritage should not be forgotten and is dully laid out in this novel. And it is still not forgotten interestingly enough in the Mountbatten family of Great Britain who have a line of descent from Gannibal.

In this book we are treated to a fascinating story of the court of Peter the Great. The story of how diplomats were acting in the Russian court at the time, the internal politics, the manipulations of the whole system is quite fascinating.

At the same time, what I found puzzling was how this one lad, captured as a slave from (presumably) Chad, he was made a page in the sultan's harem, and from there to the Russian court. Not stopping there, proceeded to become, as the subtitle says, 'Europe's First Black Intellectual.'

Accomplished in mathematics and military theory, he was a designer of fortifications, friend (or at least acquaintenance) of the powerful of the time across all of Europe. These were astounding achievements for any man, but even more surprising for a black ex-slave.

THE STOLEN PRINCE: GANNIBAL, ADOPTED SON OF PETER THE GREAT, GREAT-GRANDFATHER OF ALEXANDER PUSHKIN, AND EUROPE'S FIRST BLACK INTELLECTUAL is perhaps most startling for the final five words in its subtitle: a black intellectual in early Europe? Lost documents have been revealed to provide depth and understanding to this reconstruction of the life of Gannibal, creating a blend of history, travelogue and memoir which surveys the life and times of a young African slave in Constantinople in 1703 who claimed to be a prince stolen from Africa. Russia's tzar adopted the child and gave him the best education available, and thus Gannibal became a early soldier, diplomat and spy whose reputation and achievements would earn him a name through history.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Stephen Walsh has done a job of research that boggles the mind. Revelations on every page about an elusive composer who projected so many personas and opinions he seemed almost a chameleon. Can't wait for Volume two.

This major British musicologist has produced the most significant piece of work on Igor Stravinsky to date. It has changed our views of the man and his work as well of some of his associates. When will the final volume appear?

Stravinsky was a fine composer who contributed to the development of modernism in art, but little about his personal life reveals his background. This biographical sketch evaluates both his music and his art, examining his contributions with a critical eye to revealing how his past influenced his creations and eventually his world. An excellent, in-depth critical profile evolves.