October 07, 2020 Not-So-Fresh Siberian Air By Griffin Edwards A recent study finds that Siberia's air quality may be worse than you'd think. Cities & Towns Environment Health Russia File
October 06, 2020 Tips, Please! By Margaret Godwin-Jones Tipping in Russia is not always the most transparent. Food & Drink News Russia File
October 05, 2020 Instant Karma on Sakhalin By Griffin Edwards Karma (and alcohol) lead a man in Sakhalin Island to have an eventful 24 hours. Government Law Rural Life Russia File
October 02, 2020 Let's Take a Walk... in Space By Margaret Godwin-Jones Russian astronauts are preparing for two spacewalks in coming months. News Space Russia File
September 30, 2020 Don't Be a Blogger By Griffin Edwards A recent poll finds that the vast majority of parents don't want their kids to become bloggers. Sorry, mom and dad. Family Internet Russia File
September 29, 2020 Sore Loser Turns Supervillain By Griffin Edwards A recently defeated incumbent politician has turned off the water supply in part of his district. Out of spite. Cities & Towns Government Law Regions Social Issues Russia File
September 28, 2020 Russian Music Making a Comeback By Margaret Godwin-Jones Over the past ten years, music made in Russia has become more popular. Music Pop Culture Russia File
September 27, 2020 First Artistic Film from Space By Margaret Godwin-Jones Russia’s state space agency Roscosmos recently announced plans to shoot the first artistic film from space, despite a similar announcement from NASA earlier. Film & TV Space Russia File
September 25, 2020 Stumped By Griffin Edwards Russia's election commission performed a "large-scale investigation" into tree stumps used as polling places. Only (?) three cases were found. Cities & Towns Government Humor Internet Rural Life Russia File
September 24, 2020 It's a Bird, a Plane... nope, a Secret Chinese Spacecraft By Margaret Godwin-Jones A Russian radio fan managed to detect data from a secret Chinese spacecraft. News Space Russia File
September 22, 2020 Wash Your Shoes, but Not Here By Margaret Godwin-Jones Five men recorded themselves washing their shoes in a holy site in Kaliningrad. Then they overshared. Cities & Towns News Russia File
September 21, 2020 What Are You, Blind? By Griffin Edwards Somehow, a blind man in Orenburg has been sporting a drivers' license for the last two years. Cities & Towns Government Health Law Transportation Russia File
East of the Sun: The Epic Conquest and Tragic History of Siberia The very word Siberia evokes a history and reputation as awesome as it is enthralling. In this acclaimed book on Russia’s conquest of its eastern realms, Benson Bobrick offers a story that is both rich and subtle, broad and deep.
Resilience ~ The Russian Version (Переживем) Call it resilience, grit, or just perseverance – it takes a special sort of person to have survived the last 100 years of Russian and Soviet history.
The Best of Russian Life We culled through 15 years of Russian Life to select readers’ and editors’ favorite stories and biographies for inclusion in a special two-volume collection. Totalling over 1100 pages, these two volumes encompass some of the best writing we have published over the last two decades, and include the most timeless stories and biographies – those that can be read again and again.
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.
Jews in Service to the Tsar Benjamin Disraeli advised, “Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.” With Jews in Service to the Tsar, Lev Berdnikov offers us 28 biographies spanning five centuries of Russian Jewish history, and each portrait opens a new window onto the history of Eastern Europe’s Jews, illuminating dark corners and challenging widely-held conceptions about the role of Jews in Russian history.
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.
Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka In this comprehensive, quixotic and addictive book, Edwin Trommelen explores all facets of the Russian obsession with vodka. Peering chiefly through the lenses of history and literature, Trommelen offers up an appropriately complex, rich and bittersweet portrait, based on great respect for Russian culture.
Murder at the Dacha Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin has a problem. Several, actually. Not the least of them is the fact that a powerful Soviet boss has been murdered, and Matyushkin's surly commander has given him an unreasonably short time frame to close the case.
At the Circus This wonderful novella by Alexander Kuprin tells the story of the wrestler Arbuzov and his battle against a renowned American wrestler. Rich in detail and characterization, At the Circus brims with excitement and life. You can smell the sawdust in the big top, see the vivid and colorful characters, sense the tension build as Arbuzov readies to face off against the American.
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.
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.
The Spine of Russia This coffee table book is the photographic journal of an epic 6000-kilometer road trip. The book includes over 200 compelling images of Russians and Russian places met along the way, plus a dozen texts (in both English and Russian) on everything from business to education, from roads to fools.
October 14, 2016 Five Wild Facts about St. Basil's Cathedral By Alice E.M. Underwood On October 14, 1991, St. Basil’s Cathedral was reopened after six decades. Here are five fun facts in honor of the 25th anniversary of the Cathedral’s rebirth. Culture History Religion
September 01, 2019 Bite Marks By Paul E. Richardson Is Russia somehow different from other nations, or is it just like any other? History Int'l Relations
August 22, 2020 Sad Smiles and Kremlin Corruption By Paul E. Richardson Recounting a 2008 meeting with activist Alexei Navalny, before he rose to prominence. Government Politics
March 20, 2020 Vodka vs. Coronavirus By Margaret Godwin-Jones Russia’s Ministry of Health discussed ways vodka can affect the coronavirus (spoiler alert: not much). Food & Drink Health CVSG Russia File
April 06, 2020 A Russian Gift By Mark C. Medish A look at how the Jesuits, Pope Francis, and Georgetown University all share an interesting connection to Russia. History Int'l Relations Religion
January 28, 2020 Meet Russia's favorite sable By Maria Antonova Siberian sable fur was once Russia's biggest luxury export, but now we can't get enough of Instagram star Umora, the sable inspiring Russians to never look at fur coats again. Animals Internet Interview
