Russia Books

17 unforgettable short stories, each with the impact of a novel. If you read one book on the Russian experience, this is the one to read.

The stories in this book are moving, written in prose as spare as the detention camps its stories describe and continue to haunt one long after the book has been put down

I loved it. The best book on the former Soviet Union that I have read. If you like history this is a must read. Also look for Heinzen on the History channel.

I stumbled across this book in my local book store, bought it here, and proceeded to read it cover to cover in only a few days. It is well written and thouroughly researched. I never really thought Russian history could prove to be a page-turning experience but Heinzen does a masterful job at illustrating the transformation of the Russian state.

This review is not going to be long and drawn out. Quite simply this is the best book I have read dealing with the Russian mafia. It deals very extensively with Mr. Serio's experiences in the former Soviet Union. The only thing better then reading this book would be to take one of his classes or attend one of his lectures. Either way, this is a must for anyone wanting to take a look into the rising global power that is the Russian mafia. Enjoy, and buy two copies! It makes a great gift if you've got organized crime investigators as friends.

WHAT IF SCENARIOS

Joseph Serio is no neophyte when it comes to the obfuscation of Soviet and Russian crime and justice statistics. His internship tenure at the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) and his earlier book, USSR Crime Statistics and Summaries: 1989 and 1990, (OICJ Press, 1992) provide critical insights into the processes of compiling, replication and analysis of crime statistics by the Communist and post-Communist governments. It is clear that the central dilemma of what we know - or think we know - about the Russian mafia is intimately connected to the business of the production and consumption of information (impression management). This book is not your standard remuneration of comparative statistics and turgid didactic of comparative crime. Rather, it launches into a cognitive challenge at deciphering historical demographics, national character, culture, mores and, importantly, how to create what if scenarios in the quest of defining and better understanding both the Western purview and the Russian mafia of today. This book is one of the finest examples of contextualizing the content and embodiment of Russian Mafia available. It belongs on the desk of every dedicated analyst, researcher, and critical essayist studying the gut and underbelly of organized crime in the context of our post-modern times.

Jess Maghan, PhD
Chester, CT

This is an important book, not only because it tells us something about the state of affairs in Russia, but also because it gives insight into things popular history is content to pass over. We like labels and select details that fit comfortable paradigms. We want bite-sized stories of human drama from the media that fit, rather than question, our preconceived notions. But history is messier than this and books should go beyond the obvious. They are a chance to get it right. That's exactly what Joe Serio tries to do. He lived in the former Soviet Union for seven years witnessing the country and culture form many different angles. He was the only American to work in the Organized crime Control Department of the Soviet police and has been a consultant to "The New York Times," "The Washington Post," CNN and the BBC. He also played harmonica in a Russian rock `n roll band.

As comprehensive as this book is (with footnotes, flow charts and a thorough index) it is very readable. It is divided into three parts. The first deals with the term "mafia" as applied to the Soviets, the nature and number of crime groups in that country, and the role of the media. Part two examines key issues in the rise of criminal organizations and gives some perspective from the past 400 years that helps us understand the long-term context of the problem. Part three takes a close look at criminal organizations, business, and law enforcement--three spheres inextricably linked in a struggle for power in Russia. I love it when the author says, "There's little in the former Soviet Union that can't be found in the West including organized crime, extensive corruption, fraud, demoralizing poverty and biased media." In other words a look at this other side of the world also gives us a glimpse in the mirror at ourselves.

He explains that in the Russian language, there are two different adjectives for what appears in English as the single word "Russian." The first, "russkii," means humble, homely, sacred--it is definitely feminine. The second, "rossiiskii," is grandiose, cosmopolitan and secular--it is masculine. This latter term stems from nationhood formed by empire building. We Americans (who are pretty good at heart) understand this dichotomy, particularly when our own country is disdained by others because of its role as superpower and self-proclaimed enemy of terrorism. An idealistic, military role our political leaders embrace that seems at odds with the less presumptuous values of the "common man." In any case, Serio's point in addressing the "mafia" label is that, "the invasion of the mafia that was spoken of so often was really a cancer that grew from within the rotting body of the host organism." It is precisely the country's flawed structure that makes crime in the former Soviet Union so dangerous: "The major problem was that the rules of the mafia-like Communist Party and the rules of the traditional criminal world became the rules of the whole society."

I can remember in the early seventies visiting Sofia, Bulgaria, and seeing first hand the godfather-like authority of party officials extending far beyond the governmental system or their official positions. Why wouldn't that remain and, in fact, assume even greater importance when the political structure collapsed? And so the criminal underworld and the criminal upperworld started to merge. Of course that kind of oppression knows no boundaries, and it seems to me the only way to fight it is to more thorough better understanding. The Soviet Union was never a superpower. It had military strength but not the infrastructure (that was sacrificed to build that military strength). It was convenient for our politicians to identify those people as "the enemy" but various populations of the USSR were (and continue to be) its victims. Rather than a cut and dried, the good vs. the bad scenario, players today are "hopelessly entangled in a game where the line between legality and illegality is far from clear."


I don't know what that means for businesses, tourists, and even governments who now interact with that part of the world, but comprehending the past, understanding the larger context of existing problems and appreciating the things that keep us in ignorance of one another, is a start.

This is surely one of the most unpredictable, long-overdue art books it has been my privelege to find. Look in virtually any anthology of `world art` and you will usually look in vain for Repin, Polenov, Shishkin (the Russian Constable?), the marvellous Nikolai Ge (pronounced Gyay) whose profound religious paintings have been scandalously ignored by most critics, the great Isaac Levitan, who was Chekhov`s friend and seemed to be able to paint stillness and silence itself...and so on.
You will discover riches here - a world of seemingly neglected art by masters, many the equivalent of the accepted greats of Western art. This is a book to lose oneself in. Much has been said about the `Russian soul`, but here you may well find it. A book of unexpected beauty which, along with the artists themselves, should be far better known.

I would highly recommend this book to any person who takes interest in Russian painting. "The Itinerants" is an excelently illustrated volume that provides invaluable information on Russian art of the end if 19th century. The number of reproductions is really very impressive. The Itinerants (The Peredvizhniki) were the most important movement in the history of Fine Arts in Russia of the late 1800s. Unfortunately, their art is not very well known in the United States. This book could be a great introduction.

In 1996 Ivan Petrov began telling this his "life story" to C. S. Walton, and what a story indeed it is. The events of his life with never a dull paragraph read like a novel. It is at once a story of a life of poverty in Russia during the time of the former Soviet Union (Petrov was born in 1935), a road memoir, a treatise on homelessness, an account of life in prison (Petrov was in and out of prison for petty crimes usually associated with drinking), and ultimately a sad but never self-pitying commentary on alcoholism. It is every bit as good as the best examples from these genres, notably Woody Guthrie's BOUND FOR GLORY, George Jackson's SOLEDAD BROTHER and Lars Eighner's TRAVELS WITH LISBETH.

As a youngster Petrov lived in Chapaevsk near a prison and a statute of Stalin and by the age of fifteen had been drunk on vodka twelve times. For the rest of his life, as he remembers it, he is never far from "hair-of-the-dog" and the possibility of prison is very real to him. As a child, Petrov is beaten by his stepfather Dobrinin (his father is in prison) but he remembers also his step-grandmother who loved gladioli and asters and French novels.

Petrov's tale is filled with appropriate imagery; and as horrific as some of the events he recounts are, he remembers them often with delightful humor. Midge-bites make mosquitoes "seem as harmless as butterflies." One morning after a night of hard drinking, Petrov feels as if a reindeer herd has spent the night in his mouth. And Soviet railway stations by their warmth and 24 hour beer stands attract tramps [like Petrov] "like wasps to a jamjar." His story of why the mourners at a wake could not identify the meat in dumplings made from a slaughtered cow (the poor, senile cook had gotten one of her breasts ground up in the meat mincer) will make you wince but smile; his account of why another drunk, one Klava, always told time as eight o'clock will make you laugh out loud.

Petrov, although he never completely gets sober-- at least in these pages-- ultimately attempts to find some meaning in his existence and accepts responsibility for the life he has lived. He concludes that you can neither love nor hate people, "when they are all so different." He understands (as do most thinking adults) that he will not set the world on fire. He accepts or becomes "less disturbed" by his physical disability (he has a "crippled leg") and learns that he "could live without a home, possessions or human companionship." Certainly for one who has seen and lived through all the horrors of poverty, alcoholism and homelessness as this man did, Petrov's world view could have been much bleaker. He reminds me of one of Robert Browning's characters who was comforted by what he could have been and did not become.

As I read this fine and thoughtful book, I wondered how Ms. Walton and Mr. Petrov met, did she tape his story, what was the Western country where they met, is he still alive-- he would have been sixty-one when they met-- did he ever get sober?

RUSSIA THROUGH A SHOT GLASS is as fine a memoir as I have read.

The big personal question facing everyone in life is how to live. In the former Soviet Union the choices were none too many. The life and times of Ivan Petrov is a portrayal of state interfence run amok. It's also about a person too far gone to care. Drunk as a skunk and stumbling through the wasteland of the country, Ivan tells it like it was with his eyes bleary and swollen but still wide open. At times, I was horrified reading this book. At other times I laughed out loud. That's the great part about it. Despite his dire cirmcumstances, there was still a sense of humor about his given situation. The whole book speaks to the human condition. It makes you consider your own life and the choices you've made. An excellent primer and first hand look at the former Soveit Union. I loved this book!

An incredible and inspiring account of one family's journey from Russia to China to the United States. This book will make you re-evaluate your priorities and your life and renew and increase your faith in God. An excellent book.

This book is one of the most inspiring and poignant tru stories I have ever read. Read it to affirm and increase your faith in God.

Great book. In a small volume - lots of information and insightful analysis. One of the most interesting themes - development of Jewish political thought, and development of the Zionist idea. And a personal note. I am a Jew from Odessa myself. Reading the book brought me back to my beautiful city, and I couldn't help but recognized many familiar characters, and thought about my family origins. Thank you, Steven!

Easy to read and well-researched, this is an excellent book to add to your layperson's repertoire on Ukrainian/Russian Jewish history. I learned a lot about how Jewish people lived, what they did, what they thought about... and how political events shaped their lives.

This is a wonderful introduction into the life of Stalin and the history of the Russian Revolution. The author explains the difficulties involved with writing about a person like Stalin. The prejudices of writers, both within and without the Soviet Union, Communists and Non-Communists, believers and non-believers make for an interesting biography. Many questions will be unanwered for years to come. Highly recommended.

New books are still being written about Stalin, of course, incorporating new and interesting material from the newly opened files of the old Soviet Union. But none that I know of can compare with Hingley's.

Significantly, Hingley's most important facts concerning the dictator are still basically correct, while his judgment remains absolutely sterling. By all means read Volkogonov's new book - it's excellent - but there's not much in the newly discovered facts which renders Hingley's opinions and verdict wrong or obsolete. Don't forget, some of the mysteries surrounding Stalin's career, like the question of who really killed Kirov - probably Stalin did - will always remain unsolved because Stalin had all those involved put to death in the nick of time, while what files we may still have are merely those he had not destroyed. With his clerk-like mania for files, and his vampire-like bloodthirstiness, Stalin was very thorough in eliminating ALL evidence, whether in the form of paper.......or flesh and blood. So there's a real limit to how much new we can ever know.

I have most of the most important books ever written on Stalin in the English language, and none I know has managed to be so detached and objective on the one hand, and so devastatingly, gut-splittingly funny on the other, as Hingley's. Stalin's life is a deadly serious story if there ever was one, and Hingley manages to be humorous and scholarly at the same time - no mean feat. This book is a gem.

I think the three important things to remember about the little (he was 5'3", shorter than Napoleon) Georgian-turned-Russian Bolshevik is that he rose (contrary to his own and everyone's expectations) from nothing to become THE most powerful person who EVER lived in ALL human history, by far; that this murderous TYRANT played a key role (unwillingly at first) in the destruction of HITLER and Nazi Germany; and that he assisted (without desiring it) in the resurgence of CHINA. Of course he also gave a bad, bad name to Marxism......not that anyone else could have done any better!!

This is one of the finest books I've ever read and possessed. Finding it was a great stroke of luck.

Journey into the mind's eye; fragments of an autobiography.

by Lesley Blanch

* Type: English : Book : Non-fiction
* Publisher: New York, Atheneum, 1969 [©1968]
* Subjects: Blanch, Lesley. | Authors, English -- Biography. -- 20th century

Like Rupert Brooke, Blanch has spent her long life loving an extraordinary number of people, places, & things, but her greatest passion is for The Traveler, her mentor & lover, and Russia. From her sedate pre-WW I nursery onwards, The Traveler brings an air of Siberia to quiet London. Perhaps a former suitor of her mother's, he delicately seduces Blanch with visions of wolves and Easter, church bells and crisp snow, icons and fire-light. They consummate their affair when she is 17. But there is nothing of tawdiness, exploitation, or abuse in all this; it's a great romance told ruefully, with humor and delight. Her Traveler expands her horizons forever, and teaches her a tremendous capacity for love. Centering the memoir is a journey on the Siberian train in the 1960s, long after his disappearance. She is seeking their Russia, long gone, and some trace of him. Though she fails, it's a lovely read.

This book is a must-read for Kandinsky enthusiasts. It's also a must-read for anyone who's confused by some of Kandinsky's unstructured, semi-representational works.

I was one of the latter. I love Kandinsky's early, representational work. His eye for color and balance almost sing in his later structured, geometric works. But, the in-between works baffled me until I studied this book.

I'm delighted with the chapter by Armin Zweite, "Free the Line for the Inner Sound." It explains a tremendous amount in the illustrations and discussion related to Small Pleasures and its forerunner, the glass painting called With Sun.

Once I started comparing their composition and design elements to many of Kandinsky's later works, I realized that he used these same themes over & over again. He was exhausting the form of his expression, rather than constantly looking for new subjects.

When I understood that, far more of Kandinsky's work made sense to me. And, it opened doors for my own artwork.

Although it's important to study Kandinsky's entire body of work, including his oil paintings, this book is a vital resource for anyone interested in Kandinsky's art and philosophies.

The definitive collection! A must for any fan