February 07, 2018

Resilience: The Book!


Resilience: The Book!

Today, we officially put to print the book for our Children of 1917 project: Resilience: Life Stories of Centenarians Born in the Year of Revolution.

Amazingly, it was just 325 days ago, on March 19, 2017, that Kickstarter funding for the project closed successfully, with 283 generous backers pledging $31,475.

Through the spring of 2017, we dug deep into research, looking for centenarians that fit our criteria, getting all our paperwork, visas and other things in order. Then buying air and train tickets and planning itineraries. And then doing more research about the places and people we would be visiting.

By summer, the travel and meeting with centenarians had begun. It started in St. Petersburg and then moved down toward Moscow and then east, east, east, until we hopped back west and visited heroes in Poland, Belarus and Finland (all part of Russia in 1917).

In the end, we had gathered gigabytes of photos, video, and voice recordings, visiting nearly two dozen cities and towns and making countless new friends.

Then, come fall, the writing and editing, translating and layout, design and proofing was underway.

Oh, and did I mention we also created a film? RESILIENCE, the film, was released officially on the 100th anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution, on November 7, 2017. We are still waiting for an official screening date in Moscow, but the film will premiere in the US at the Green Mountain Film Festival in Montpelier, Vermont, at the end of March.

The book is 254 pages long, has over 150 photos, and includes profiles of 22 centenarians born in 1917. It will be a softcover book, printed in full color on fine, coated stock. It should be back from the printer in a few weeks.

Frankly, this may be the most important book out little publishing house has ever assembled. Because it carries memories and life stories of individuals that otherwise would never have been known outside their families, much less their cities, towns, or country. Their stories are the saga of Russia over the past century, and yet their stories are also moving tales about the human condition. We so look forward to sharing them with you and hope you will be as moved by them as we were.

Honestly, it is difficult for me to believe all of this happened in just 325 days. It certainly could not have come off were it not for the persistence, hard work, and talent of my two co-collaborators, Mikhail Mordasov and Nadya Grebennikova. They are not only consummate professionals, but dear friends, and it is a privilege to create, argue, collaborate and travel with them.

So, if you already ordered the book, it will be coming soon. If you have not, what are you waiting for? Quantities are severely limited, and you won’t want to miss out.

Preorder your copy here.

 

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Some of Our Books

Marooned in Moscow

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.
A Taste of Russia

A Taste of Russia

The definitive modern cookbook on Russian cuisine has been totally updated and redesigned in a 30th Anniversary Edition. Layering superbly researched recipes with informative essays on the dishes' rich historical and cultural context, A Taste of Russia includes over 200 recipes on everything from borshch to blini, from Salmon Coulibiac to Beef Stew with Rum, from Marinated Mushrooms to Walnut-honey Filled Pies. A Taste of Russia shows off the best that Russian cooking has to offer. Full of great quotes from Russian literature about Russian food and designed in a convenient wide format that stays open during use.
White Magic

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.
The Latchkey Murders

The Latchkey Murders

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin is back on the case in this prequel to the popular mystery Murder at the Dacha, in which a serial killer is on the loose in Khrushchev’s Moscow...
The Samovar Murders

The Samovar Murders

The murder of a poet is always more than a murder. When a famous writer is brutally stabbed on the campus of Moscow’s Lumumba University, the son of a recently deposed African president confesses, and the case assumes political implications that no one wants any part of.
Life Stories: Original Fiction By Russian Authors

Life Stories: Original Fiction By Russian Authors

The Life Stories collection is a nice introduction to contemporary Russian fiction: many of the 19 authors featured here have won major Russian literary prizes and/or become bestsellers. These are life-affirming stories of love, family, hope, rebirth, mystery and imagination, masterfully translated by some of the best Russian-English translators working today. The selections reassert the power of Russian literature to affect readers of all cultures in profound and lasting ways. Best of all, 100% of the profits from the sale of this book are going to benefit Russian hospice—not-for-profit care for fellow human beings who are nearing the end of their own life stories.
Driving Down Russia's Spine

Driving Down Russia's Spine

The story of the epic Spine of Russia trip, intertwining fascinating subject profiles with digressions into historical and cultural themes relevant to understanding modern Russia. 
Survival Russian

Survival Russian

Survival Russian is an intensely practical guide to conversational, colloquial and culture-rich Russian. It uses humor, current events and thematically-driven essays to deepen readers’ understanding of Russian language and culture. This enlarged Second Edition of Survival Russian includes over 90 essays and illuminates over 2000 invaluable Russian phrases and words.
Woe From Wit (bilingual)

Woe From Wit (bilingual)

One of the most famous works of Russian literature, the four-act comedy in verse Woe from Wit skewers staid, nineteenth century Russian society, and it positively teems with “winged phrases” that are essential colloquialisms for students of Russian and Russian culture.
Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar is a hilarious and insightful memoir by a diplomat who was “present at the creation” of US-Soviet relations. Charles Thayer headed off to Russia in 1933, calculating that if he could just learn Russian and be on the spot when the US and USSR established relations, he could make himself indispensable and start a career in the foreign service. Remarkably, he pulled it of.

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Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

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