November 01, 2020 Tsarina: In the Winter Palace By Ellen Alpsten Catherine I finds herself at a turning point upon the death of her husband, Peter the Great. History Literature
September 24, 2020 Cave Bears, Corruption, and Life on Venus By Griffin Edwards This week, education is worth fighting for; corrupt officials go for all-or-nothing; and Lenin's mausoleum makeover is cancelled. Animals Cities & Towns Economy Education Government History Law Moscow Regions Science Social Issues Urban Life Odder News
September 18, 2020 A Russian Millennial's Path to Vinaigrette By Anna Kharzeeva Growing up in post-Soviet Russia can make you crave anything foreign. Here is how a salad helped a Russian millennial develop a taste for her own culture. Culture Food & Drink History Food Stories
September 15, 2020 Archaeologists Make a Home Run By Griffin Edwards A baseball dating back to the 12th century has been unearthed in one of Russia's oldest cities. Cities & Towns Culture History Science Sports Russia File
September 01, 2020 In Search of Terra Incognita By Masha Nordbye Two hundred years ago, the first sighting of Antarctica was recorded – by a Russian expedition. The author retraces the expedition’s steps, and not without hiccups. Geography History
September 01, 2020 Creating Anna Karenina By Robert Blaisdell When Tolstoy started Anna Karenina, he was forty-four. He guessed that he would finish the novel, conceived as only a novella, in two weeks. Anna Karenina took him more than four years. History Literature
September 01, 2020 Sergei Bondarchuk By Tamara Eidelman Looking back at the life and work of the legendary filmmaker, and how views of him have changed over time. Film & TV History War
September 01, 2020 The Semyonovsky Regiment Revolts By Tamara Eidelman How a progressive regiment was crushed by a single, petty man. History War
September 01, 2020 The "Battle" of the Ugra River By Tamara Eidelman The Great Stand on the Ugra River, a confrontation in the autumn of 1480, has come to be known as an emblematic moment in Russian history. Yet things are not always what they seem. History War
September 01, 2020 Where in the World? By Paul E. Richardson At a time when international travel has come to a screeching halt, I can think of little better service our magazine can provide than to take readers to far-flung places. History Travel
August 20, 2020 Hovercraft, Cannibals, and a Man on Mars By Griffin Edwards This week: Soviet-relic bunkers burst forth with new life; Soviet-relic vehicles get new life; and Soviet-relic apartments crack under the pressures of life. Animals Family Food & Drink History Internet Science Odder News
July 20, 2020 Case Closed on Dyatlov Pass? By Griffin Edwards Was it aliens? Secret nuclear testing? Bigfoot? The Russian Prosecutor-General's office claims to have solved one of Soviet Russia's most perplexing mysteries. History Pop Culture Rural Life Russia File
November 01, 2021 to November 30, 2021 Yuri Gorbachev's 18th Annual Exhibition at the Byrne Gallery in Middleburg, Virginia The Byrne Gallery | Middleburg, VA Susan Byrne and Bill Byrne are celebrating their Gallery's 26th anniversary this year in Middleburg with a celebration and exhibition of the vivid oil and enamel paintings of internationally-acclaimed artist Yuri Gorbachev. Art Exhibit
June 28, 2021 to August 08, 2021 Atomic Alert!: Confronting "The Bomb" in the New Atomic Age The Museum of Russian Icons | Clinton, MA The exhibition explores the U.S. government’s Cold War era efforts, in the 1950s, to educate Americans about what to do before an atomic attack, how to react to a sudden blinding flash, and what action to take in the aftermath of a catastrophic blast. Exhibit, Other
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.
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.
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.
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.
Resilience: Life Stories of Centenarians Born in the Year of Revolution 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.
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.
The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas This exciting new trilogy by a Russian author – who has been compared to Orhan Pamuk and Umberto Eco – vividly recreates a lost world, yet its passions and characters are entirely relevant to the present day. Full of mystery, memorable characters, and non-stop adventure, The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas is a must read for lovers of historical fiction and international thrillers.
Russia Rules From the shores of the White Sea to Moscow and the Northern Caucasus, Russian Rules is a high-speed thriller based on actual events, terrifying possibilities, and some really stupid decisions.
Fish: A History of One Migration This mesmerizing novel from one of Russia’s most important modern authors traces the life journey of a selfless Russian everywoman. In the wake of the Soviet breakup, inexorable forces drag Vera across the breadth of the Russian empire. Facing a relentless onslaught of human and social trials, she swims against the current of life, countering adversity and pain with compassion and hope, in many ways personifying Mother Russia’s torment and resilience amid the Soviet disintegration.
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.
22 Russian Crosswords Test your knowledge of the Russian language, Russian history and society with these 22 challenging puzzles taken from the pages of Russian Life magazine. Most all the clues are in English, but you must fill in the answers in Russian. If you get stumped, of course all the puzzles have answers printed at the back of the book.
Red Star Tales: A Century of Russian and Soviet Science Fiction For over 100 years, most of the science fiction produced by the world’s largest country has been beyond the reach of Western readers. This new collection changes that, bringing a large body of influential works into the English orbit.
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
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
March 17, 2019 When Russian Cuisine Turns Georgian By Tiffany Zhu Why is Georgian food so popular in Russia? Turns out there's more to it than deliciousness. Culture Food & Drink History
May 26, 2016 Two Miracles of Russian Love Poetry By Anatoly Liberman On the occasion of Pushkin's birthday, we offer a post on the challenge of translating his most famous love lyrics, "Я вас любил," with a bonus look at Innokenty Annensky's "Среди миров." Literature
July 01, 2021 The Girl from the Hermitage By Molly Gartland Molly Gartland’s The Girl from the Hermitage follows the turns of fate over nearly a century of a single family in St. Petersburg, whose lives are forever altered by a portrait assignment. Art History Literature St. Petersburg
March 15, 2017 Who Invented the Ancient Slavic Gods, and Why? By Kasya Denisevich How it was that in the eighteenth century Russian mythology was trumped-up in the Western manner? Who wanted it? And where did we get Lel, Yarilo and Zimtserla? We explain everything you'd want to know about Russian fakelore. Culture History Literature Religion
