Today is the 190th anniversary of the great writer's birth. We thought we would share a few readings to get you in a Tolstoyan spirit.

Stepping through hundreds of years of history, we look back at signal events that have occurred in these fall months.

In 1992, a famous American dancer visited the formerly closed seaport of Vladivostok. Then everything blew up.

In which the author visits Kalmykia to meet with survivors of a horrific genocide few remember.

Who really killed the Romanovs? Read about the survivors of the royal household.

In which we review books on empire and disasters.

The idea of separate and competing government powers may have found its first expression in a constitution composed in 1710, in Ukraine.

If these walls could talk. The history and horror of one of the most epic construction projects of the Soviet era.

The life of a beloved princess changed immeasurably when her husband, an heir to the Russian throne, was murdered by terrorists.

Since the Bolshevik Revolution struck, Russia has had a particularly cursed experience with the month of August.

In a galaxy far, far away, the Millennium Falcon circled over a vicious battle with art and a dangerous passageway. That far-off galaxy being Russia, of course.

What do you have to do as Russian tsar to be remembered as "Great"? You can start by reforming the government, social structure, customs, language, and, well, everything else.