Russia Books

This book provides an fairly indepth account of dynastic expansion. The Qing retained the instincts of steppe cavalry for almost 150 years and their expansion into Central Asia showed their determination to prevent a rival steppe empire rising on their flanks. Their efforts were opposite to the Ming who spent relatively little time on the steppes, which allowed Manchu rivalry.I enjoy this book very much and impressed with the illustrations.

i am a amateur sinologist who is thoroughly informed on chinese ancient and medieval history but well acquianted am i with these voluminous works in original chinese texts i have never read a book such as this one which explore the historical views not only from chinese sources but russians and barbarians ( as the chinese referred ) which turn out to be multipolar very objective. also i have for the first time able to learn outlooks of emperors kang shih and chieng lun from a non chinese source!. this is a very educational and provocative piece. i hope u will in future offer more books like this!

This is the first book in a series by this author. He states on his website at www.childrensworldnet.com that other books will "compare" how children live in different countries, in adventure story form, using animal "characters". Each book connects to the last and the next in some way. I felt this book would be great for early readers e.g. 2nd and 3rd grade and the website would be good for the same readers and even their teachers and parents. Great game ideas, great "real" photos of book countries, customs, foods, schools, homes, and children's "dreams".

My birthday is in December also and always makes it hard to have a party because everybody is too busy with Christmas stuff. But CHIP is also a soccer player as I am too and to get to go to on a plane all by yourself to a big soccer game is just too cool dude! My parents probably would never let me, but I would like to anyhow. I really liked this book because it is just like the things I do and the way I go to school and all and I just really liked this book a LOT!!!!!!!!!!!!Oh, and I am 9 until December 18 in 2004

I cannot describe how much I enjoyed this book. Danilova speaks with such warmth and dignity. I felt like I was truly experiencing life with her and I could almost hear the audience come to their feet as she took her final bows. Truly inspiring! Fantastic!

Alexanda Danilova's accounts of her life as a ballerina is full of charming details, from her early life as an orphan attending the Maryinsky Theater school to her career with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo and afterward. The penultimate chapter describing her teaching philosophy is worth many times the price of the book. It should serve as a manifesto for ballet teachers and coaches everywhere.

Every year we like to add a few Christmas books to our collection. This was a touching story, although a sad one for Christmas. We loved the illustrations.

You need to get this book for Christmas! It will give you the Christmas Spirit and it will touch your heart. This book also makes a great holiday gift!

Also recommended: Christmas Gifts, Christmas Voicesby John Allen. This story will make you cry...and ultimately give you comfort.

As there is very little information given on this page, I will quote from the dust jacket blurb: "Waldman moves from the outrageous experiments of the Dadaists in the 1920s to the irreverent debunkings of the 1960s Pop artists to the provocative appropriation art of the 1990s; from the intricate towers and assemblages of the Russion Constructivists early in this century [20th] to the surprising piles of materials put together by such midcentury artists as Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, and John Chamberlain; from the cerebral and Freudian collages and objects of the Surrealists in the 1920s and 1930s to the probing conundrums posed by the conceptualists of the 1980s and 1990s. A lively book on lively arts, Collage, Assemblage, and the Found Object gives us a comprehensive and dynamic view of what are arguably the most important artistic developments of our time. 404 illustrations, including 100 in full color." Not forgotten, of course, are my favorites Joseph Cornell and Joseph Beuys. The Chapter titles are: Cubism, Futurism, The Russian Avant-Garde, Dada, Surrealism, Matisse, Abstract Expressionism, Assemblage & Pop Art, The New Object, Appropriation. 336 pages.

If this books isn't considered the ultimate guide to the history and philosophy of collage as an art form, it should be. Waldman intelligently discusses the history of collage in it's various forms through the past several hundred years and how the concept of assemblage and the found object has challenged and changed the art of collage. If you have this book hold on to it. I've been looking for a copy of this book for three years now, and it's difficult to find one I can afford.

Dear Reader: Firstly, I thank you for taking a time to read my story and enjoy with my paintings. Without you or better say without hopping to meet you the book would be never published. Secondly, without receiving any favor or a discount from Amazom.com I would like to thanks them to gratefully listed my book on their site and support that it has provided to fulfill all required forms. A life-long events of anyone is a reason to write a book about. It is maybe pity but another, much more significant indict needed for encouragement to write a book. It can be anything a murder, a bank rubbery, a great adventure and just about anything what might stir our feelings. In my case it was my divorce. It forced me to turn on computer to record what I felt insensitive and hard to appreciate actions of my ex-wife and as well the juridical system of United State. After a short time a computer became my friend and confidant. At that time I wrote for myself and had no plan for publication. During my life I learn no other means to relief my anger and frustration but painting it out before and now to write. The communication with my computer helped to save my sanity. For good or bad but during four-years long divorce I got accustom to write and when in 1977 I reached the settlement my writing marked 2000 pages. Also I learned to value a positive effort regardless of its creator and would feel a crime to through my own work into a garbage I decided to organize all written stories and in some cases very sketchy into a trilogy -- The Fool. In 1998 the first book "Born under the Black Sun" was submitted to a publisher and though found very interesting the problem with marketing chilled the enthusiasm. I rejected a notion that the book should be market only among newcomers from Russia. The trilogy was not written about emigrant and for emigrant. The trilogy explores a male-female relationship, thoughts about government and governing, philosophical essay of a human nature, justice, love, hate, human tragedy and drama. After some thinking I decided to create an art-book. A book which should be of interest to anyone and had no nationalistic boarders. That way The Colors of Truth was born.

In 1977, Vladimir Shvartsman emigrated from Russia to America. The Colors Of Truth: A Journey from Russia to America is a compelling collection of his artwork. Each of the 49 paintings is accompanied by an informative text relating the conditions surrounding (and sometimes inspiring) the work. Shavartsman also provides a brief and engaging biography of himself, including a painful divorce, all of which impacted on his art in one way or another. There are occasions in the text where it becomes obvious that English is a second language, but that only serves to underscore the authenticity and candor of this unique, engaging, biographically oriented collection of an artist's work and vision under trying and difficult circumstances.

This united edition of the correspondence was long overdue. The letters of the Emperor and Empress appear together for the first time, cleansed of the transcription errors which spoiled the first (1923) edition of her correspondence, and of the tactful editing which expunged the more intimate passages from the 1929 version of his. Joseph Fuhrmann's footnotes are helpful, thoroughly researched and not unsympathetic to the writers. For students of Russian history, this book is an extraordinarily important source on the government of Russia immediately before the Revolution; it repays careful and open-minded reading. For those interested in the personal life and the characters of the last Tsar's family, it is arguably better still: here we have Nicholas II, affectionate and gentle, occasional author of rather poetic descriptions of scenery (this is not the Nicholas of the blandly factual diary). Here too his beloved Empress, sharp-tongued and energetic and interested in everything, very different to the tragic-eyed lady of legend. High politics and war jostle for attention with amusing little accounts of the childrens' activities, but there is never any doubt that the letters were written in serious times by people who understood and sought desperately to find a solution to the problems Russia faced. They certainly don't make light reading, but if you have the patience, these letters repay your perseverance.

It's hard to believe these letters and telegrams were exchanged by a ruler and his wife under the immensely stressful conditions of WWI. I'm an aficionado of Imperial Russian History, but the unbelievable banality of this couple, relentlessly exposed in their own words is hard to take. A terrifically thorough book, it's a slow read--which certainly makes you feel you're getting your money's worth. I'm glad I bought it, and have learned more about these Romanovs even though their correspondence reveals shallowness and self-interest. Very good book, pitiful subjects.

This is the only professionally written, highly analytic, examination of the greatest documentary film of old times, Dziga Vertov's "The Man With the Movie Camera," which includes a formal analysis of virtually every shot, simultaneously represented with the respective frame enlargement.

This is an excllent title for degree level students studying film, art or european history. I found this an extremely rewarding analysis of Vertov's work and working practice. Petric writes in a way that is academic but also easily understandable for the lay. Petric does not just an analysis 'The Man With The Movie Camera' he also looks in depth at the political and artistic conditions that gave rise to constructivism.

Film studies students often drop the name; Dziga Vertov without actually knowing anything about the man or his work and this book is an excellent way to learn more.

Going to Russia? Buy it. Interested in reading about contemporary Russia beyond what the newspapers tell you? Buy it. Taking a class on Russian culture? Buy it. I really can't recommend this book enough for specialists and novices alike. There's something to please everybody here.

This book has the rare quality of being a classroom text as well as a report. Today's Russia. Pyramid schemes, religion, rave parties,rock music, detective stories, cinema, pets, porn, graffiti, tattooing... the carnival of crazy New Russia to be read overnight. A shock.

Tony Bently an auther who writes in great detail ( she also wrote the indepth Winter Season, and Susanne Farrells Biography.)
Tony once again is very successful with this magical book. When one reads Costumes by Karinska you never want to put it down. This book is also very rich in photos. a great combination. One does not have to be a dancer to read this book.
It is a rare treat. Buy it, you won't be dissapointed

If you have ever seen a ballet by George Balanchine, then you are familiar with the name Karinska. In the foreward to this magnificently produced book, the great Balanchine is quoted as saying to the Ford Foundation that what he needed most for his work was "Karinska." Truth or overstatement, it is an obvious tribute to the woman who designed the costumes for more than 75 ballets by one of the greatest artists of the twentieth century.

The author, Toni Bentley was not only a dancer with Balanchine's New York City Ballet, she also wrote the best book on ballet I've ever read: WINTER SEASON, A DANCER'S JOURNAL.

In COSTUMES BY KARINSKA Bentley traces Barbara Karinska's life and work in Russia and then, after becoming one of the numerous emigrees to the West, in Paris, Monte Carlo, London, Hollywood and, finally, Manhattan in 1949. Karinska worked with many other famous creative people in her long and varied career including Agnes De Mille, Jerome Robbins, Franco Zeffirelli and George Cukor to name just a few.

This oversized book contains scores of wonderful photographs and sketches in color and in black and white including, to me, the most interesting part of the book: descriptions of how Karinska took "raw" sketches by artists such as Noguchi, Dali, Chagall, etc. and, literally, turned them into costumes.

Bentley writes gracefully and wittily and, most importantly, she doesn't only write for dance professionals.

Treat yourself to this relatively expensive but very much worthwhile history of costume in the last century and the personal and professional life of the woman who "dressed" so many major stars from Gypsy Rose Lee to Laurence Olivier. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.