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

Bruce Grant's work is well-researched and extremely well-organized. It is easy to read and interspersed with anecdotes about his travels on Sakhalin island. The book includes some excellent photography. Grant's main thesis centers around the idea that the Nivkhi tribe of Sakhalin island experienced the Soviet era as a "roller coaster" of policy shifts culminating in a sense of "culturelessness." The book covers pre-Revolutionary times a little bit, and then documents the treatment of Nivkhi throughout the Soviet era. A recommended read for anyone studying Siberia during Stalinism or Soviet times.

Grant's book is in the vanguard of his field of siberian studies and post soviet studies. Anyone who wants to understand sovietization and de-sovietization of culture - a much more important topic than this might seem to be - MUST read this book. Grant's analysis is right and beautiful.

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.

I teach a survey course on Russia to graduate-level business students. I have used a variety of texts on Russia's economic transformation, always seeking one with the ideal combination of currency, readability, and insights and perspectives attuned to the businessperson rather than the typical academic. Brady's book is it. Brady's experience with BusinessWeek and her illustrative interviews with Russian citizens resonate particularly strongly with my students, who run the gamut from straight-from-undergrad-school/can't-find-Russia-on-a-map, to individuals who have done business in Russia (successfully or un- ) and want to know more about a unique (and uniquely frustrating) environment for operations and investment. I plan to continue requiring this text for my students and hope Brady provides updated editions as needed.

This is an fabulous book on how Russia turned from state socialism into a fragile, but market-based economy. Being a Business Week correspondent in Moscow the author could witness all stages of Russia's economic transformation -- starting from supply shortages and chaos of late 1991 to the formation of financial & industrial comglomerates in 1997. This book is an exciting reading because it is easy written and combines stories on both complicated economic issues and on lives of ordinary Russians, struggling to adapt to the changes.

There are a few mitten knitting books on the market; Latvian Mittens (Upitis) featuring the intricate, fine gauge knitting from that Baltic land; Magnificent Mittens by Zilboorg--colorful Turkish patterns and gauntlets in her original and very colorful style. So how many MORE mitten books do we need--being as we all wear far few mittens than, say, socks?

I was not, therefore, immediately interested in this book. But, wait, who are the Komi people and what kind of knitting do they do? it turns out the Komi are a Finno-Ugric group who are ethnically related to the Estonians and Finns. Like the Baltic Estonians, they use the angular, diagonal patterns found in Estonia and Latvia, as well as in Lithuania and parts of Russia. The mittens here are colorful, with eye-catching use of all-over designs and mixed "septentary" smaller bands that make for very attractive hand coverings.

But not only mittens--author Schurch includes a lovely pattern for long stockings which could be used for cross-country skiing, and two very nice hats--a Komi fez with tassels and a sort of stocking cap.

If you like color pattern knitting, this book is a valuable idea resource. If you like knitting mittens, of course you will like it even better. But even if hats and socks are really your favorites, (they are for me) this book has a great deal to offer in novel patterns and colorways. I like it a lot.

This is a wonderful book of mittens with intricate but easy to do patterns. Charlene's general mitten pattern in different sizes works out great and fits very well. The book is well thought out with a general introduction with information that relates to all the mittens and the separate patterns have their essential information. Her graphs are easy to read. There are a few goofs in the patterns like a wrong count/yarn for the pattern repeat, but you'd pick up on that right away checking count and yarn. Some of the shown gloves seem to be a previous version as they differ slightly from the actual pattern graph/position of the pattern on the glove. But I think that's a minor variation. The color photographs are gorgeous and make you want to knit just all of them.
I especially like the way the thumbs are worked, first of all with a pattern section on the thumb that is centered and looks very neat, then second, the way the thumb is finished is very fitting to the shape of a human thumb in a way that the reductions are only made on the "hand" side.
I am very very happy with this book and recommend it highly.

We have looked at several books on our two visits to St. Petersburg, and the Knopf is by far the best. It has superb illustrations and thorough descriptions as well as sample tours. It also has excellent historical and political information to set the City in context.

This guide was invaluable to us on our regretfully short tour of St.Petersburg. We would read it before touring for background and descriptions of the places we visited. The book is worth having for detailed illustrations of the layout of the Hermitage,Peterhof,PushkinPalace, Yusupov Palace...It is a portable guide even with the color illustrations (i.e.not heavy). Comes with it's own bookmark, too! Highly recommended!

As one involved with NASA in the heady days of years past, I had heard talk that Princeton Architectural Press planned to bring out a book of Adam Bartos' photographs of the Baikonur Cosmodrome, and I have been looking forward to Kosmos for some time.

Kosmos is a sad and poignant portrait--but, alas, an accurate one--of the decline of one of the great technological programs of human history. I don't believe that those who weren't alive at the time can appreciate the reaction of this nation to the launch of Sputnik and the other achievements of the Soviet space program nor can those outside of NASA appreciate the enthusiasm--and gravity--that characterized our efforts to catch the Soviets in the space race.

Frankly, the faded glory shines through in many of the photographs, and, in the eyes of those caught in the photographs, one still sees glimpses of the spirit, albeit wounded, that drove their space program to its glories. However, in the post-Cold War era, pathos will be the most common reaction of the reader.

The accompanying essay by Svetlana Boym of Harvard University, unlike those gratuitous essays in many photographic books, contributes to the Kosmos and brings some important insights to the reader unfamiliar with the Soviet program. It is beatifully written and is commended to the readers for their edification.

All in all, after much anticipation, Kosmos exceeded my expectations and stirred a wave of memories. Congratulations to PAP for their achievement!

Having been a Soviet/Russian space enthusiast since childhood, I was naturally excited to learn that Princeton Architectural Press was publishing a photonovel entitled "KOSMOS - A Portrait of the Russian Space Age". This is a finely bound collection of 100 photographs taken by renowned photographer, Adam Bartos between June 1995 and April 1999 at the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

With great anticipation I opened the book, eager to see new images of Russian space hardware and launch sites. What I found between the covers was much, much more than I expected.

With his keen photographic skills, Adam Bartos is not only able to take us into areas of the cosmodrome rarely seen by western observers, but into the hearts and souls of some of the key personalities which helped to shape the current climate of what was once the worlds greatest space industry. Through the eyes of the photographer you see rooms well worn with age now silent and barren, and faces whose stares echo ghost of the former Soviet Union. Image after image paints a portrait of contrast between the glorious aspirations of the Soviet future past and the dismal realities of the present day russian space program.

Enhancing this somber collection of images is an essay written by Svetlana Boym, Professor of Slavic Languages at Harvard University, which poignantly illustrates the mood of the Russian people as radical political change made way to new realities.

I highly recommend this book, not only to all Russian space enthusiast but also to anyone who has even the slightest interest in the changing climate of the Russian people and how it has affected their once dear space program.

Convincing, well-researched, elegant --- Abby Schrader presents an engaging work of history, challenging conventional notions of corporal punishment's evolution while plunging the reader deep into the Russia she examines. Forget beach reading and sink your teeth into this!

Prof. Schrader is widely considered to be as the most exciting rising star in Russian history today, and this book merely confirms that. Her treatment of the issues is thorough and reflects in depth and committed research. She makes the issues exciting, through her insights into the data. And there are great pictures.

I can't wait for the sequel!