July 01, 2007 Philsophy and Architecture We review Motherland: A Philosophilcal History of Russia, and Russian Architecture and the West, both invaluable books for the Russophile. Plus we note the winner of this year's Rossica Translation Prize. Follow this link for links to purchase books reviewed in this and previous issues.
July 01, 2007 Culinary Detente A wonderful recipe for shortbread almond cookies, which just happen to have a Cold War history to them.
July 01, 2007 Farewell to a Maverick We bid farewell to the First President of Russia, with some pithy and fascinating quotes from those who knew and claimed to know him.
July 01, 2007 The Grand Illusion Russia went to war with the Ottoman Empire in 1877 for what it thought were noble reasons. Yet, in the end, it turned out the usual way. A look back at that era, with contemporaneous accounts by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.
June 15, 2007 The Kremlin's Third Path Things had quieted down a bit in the Russian 2008 presidential race. And then, at the end of this week, there was this:"We have two active individuals who work as first deputy prime ministers with various responsibilities and who are rather liberal in their views," said Kremlin aide Igor Shuvalov at a June 14 political conference in Washington, DC. "People are talking about these two candidates, potential candidates, but my president could yet offer one more surprise and, perhaps lat Russia File
June 15, 2007 Leo Tolstoy Learn about the varied life of this Russian writer, born to nobility and author of "War and Peace" and "Anna Karenina". History Literature Russia File
June 04, 2007 Kamchatka Disaster A massive landslide destroys the Valley of the Geysers on June 4, 2007. Environment History Science Russia File
June 01, 2007 Going Green We are not a large publishing company. We don't influence how the USPS sets postal rates (apparently, that is left up to Time-Warner; witness the July periodical rate increase), and while we like to think we have some effect on how people perceive Russia, that is something you really cannot measure.But we know we have an impact on the environment. Every publisher does. And so it is our goal to continue doing the good we do (providing information an insights into the world's largest c Russia File
May 16, 2007 Zero in Russia In the May/June 2007 issue of Russian Life, Mikhail Ivanov's column on the use of "zero," "null," etc. in Russian slang got us wondering: just when and how was the concept and notation of zero introduced into Russian. We could find nothing in our printed references or anywhere online. So we polled some experts. Below we reprint two excellent replies we received. History Science Russia File
May 09, 2007 Supersonic Flight Meet the TU-144, Russia's achievement, albeit short lived, in supersonic flight. On Dec. 31, 1968, Russia's TU-144 supersonic airliner made its first flight, several months ahead of the Anglo-French Concorde. History Science Russia File
May 01, 2007 Sleeping on Graveyards The Khakass are one of Russia's most ethnically complex nationalities. Their numbers are dwindling in the distant province that surrounds the headwaters of the mighty Yenisey river.
