September 01, 2006 Moscow and Russia A review of a new "biography" of Moscow during WWII and a photo book on Russia.
July 01, 2006 Writers at War, Putin and a River Adventure A review of Ivan's War, A Writer at War, Putin's Russia, and River of No Reprieve. Follow this link for a quick link to purchase any of these titles.
May 01, 2006 Tales of Russian Cities & Conservatism A review of books on Odessa, Palekh and the roots of Russian conservatism. Plus a few odds and ends, including the winner of a new annual Russian to English Translation prize.
March 01, 2006 Ivan the Terrible, Disabled Orphans, Chernobyl A review of Isabel de Madriaga's "Ivan the Terrible," Ruben Gallego's "White on Black" and Mary Mycio's "Wormwood Forest." Also noted are the new DVD version of Master and Margarita plus two other new books. Follow this link to purchase copies of these books.
January 01, 2006 Dobychin, Pasternak, Reindeer People and more A review of a collection of stories by Leonid Dobychin, a biography of Pasternak, and a cultural study of the Evenk people of the north.
November 01, 2005 Two Book Reviews We review Olga Grushin's "The Dream Life of Sukhanov" and Hugh Barnes' "Gannibal," plus the Russian film "Nochnoy Dozor."
September 01, 2005 Three Books and a DVD In this issue's review section, we look at Ludmila Ulitskaya's new novel, "Lyudi Nashevo Tsarya," plus two works of non-fiction: "Moura" and "In the Wake of the Jomon." We also note the release of four works on DVD by Otar Iosseliani, whom we profiled in our Jan/Feb 2004 issue.
May 01, 2005 Spies, Reindeer, Empresses and Partizans Book reviews of Spy Handler, Running with Reindeer, Five Empresses and War in the Wild East. Links are provided here for purchasing these books online.
March 01, 2005 Four books and a CD We review The Five, by Vladimir Jabotinsky, Bobby Fischer Goes to War, A Traveller's Companion to Moscow, Strange Soviet Practices and a CD called Russian Romance.
November 01, 2004 The One and the Many A review of Andrey Zvyagintsev's movie, new on DVD, "The Return," and a new film, Notes from the Underground. Also briefly reviewed are three CDs.
September 01, 2004 Books, Virtually Where to find Russian books online, from full-text stories and novels, to real ink and paper books you can order from online stores. For links noted in the article, see: this page.
July 01, 2004 Pulp Fiction for the Summer Looking for something Russian to read this summer? Here are our picks.
February 22, 2022 to February 22, 2032 Russian-Language Gallery Tour Brooklyn Museum | Brooklyn, NY Russian-language tour exploring our collection in depth, second Sunday of each month at 1 pm. Free, reservations required Art Exhibit
February 28, 2022 to February 23, 2032 Free Russian Language Guided Tours Metropolitan Museum of Art | New York, NY Russian-speaking guides conduct tours of the museum's highlights every Monday at 11 am. Art Exhibit
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...
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.
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.
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.
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.
Maria's War: A Soldier's Autobiography This astonishingly gripping autobiography by the founder of the Russian Women’s Death Battallion in World War I is an eye-opening documentary of life before, during and after the Bolshevik Revolution.
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.
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.
The Frogs Who Begged for a Tsar The fables of Ivan Krylov are rich fonts of Russian cultural wisdom and experience – reading and understanding them is vital to grasping the Russian worldview. This new edition of 62 of Krylov’s tales presents them side-by-side in English and Russian. The wonderfully lyrical translations by Lydia Razran Stone are accompanied by original, whimsical color illustrations by Katya Korobkina.
Steppe / Степь This is the work that made Chekhov, launching his career as a writer and playwright of national and international renown. Retranslated and updated, this new bilingual edition is a super way to improve your Russian.
301 Things Everyone Should Know About Russia How do you begin to get a handle on the world's largest country? This colorful, illustrated guide will get you started...
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.
May 07, 2015 The Most Useful Russian Inventions What do radio, television, the periodic table, and helicopters have in common? Russians were involved in developing all of them – and more! Reference Science Russia File
January 10, 2014 Why Don't Russians Smile? It is a common trope that Russians never smile. Which of course is interpreted to mean they are unfriendly, gloomy, sullen – positively Dostoyevskian. This, of course, is a complete misreading of body language and cultural norms. Culture Humor Language Russia File
February 03, 2018 12 Myths/Truths About Russians and Vodka Think you know your vodka? Take this True/False quiz (just 12 items) about Russians and their vodka and see if you are right about that... Food & Drink Russia File
December 19, 2016 10 Things (And 5 Jokes) You Didn't Know About Brezhnev Soviet leader Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev would have been 110 on December 19. There are plenty of fun facts and surprising jokes behind the eyebrows. History Humor Politics Russia File
March 07, 2022 Russian Life Takes a Pause As the world reels from the horrific, criminal events being perpetrated in Ukraine by Vladimir Putin, the Russian state, and the Russian military, all of us who nurture a love for Russian people, their culture and history, have been heartbroken. It is not easy to remain a Russophile when suddenly, all across the globe, the adjective “Russian” has become toxic. News Russia File
October 31, 2016 Why Stalin's Corpse Was Exhumed on Halloween The body of Joseph Stalin was removed from the mausoleum on Red Square on October 31, 1961. It may not be as spooky as Halloween, but the former leader still haunts Russia today. History Politics Social Issues Russia File
