January/February 2016

Most Russophiles are of two minds on Russia these days, struggling to reconcile the Russia they love with the one they hate.

On the continued relevance of Malevich's Black Square.

All the news that fits.

Everything noteworthy on the travel front.

On how a close enemy becomes a friend overnight.

The Congress of Paris in 1856 settled the outcome of the Crimean War, where Russia's loss set the stage for the next fifty years of history.

A small war was raging in Rus in January and February 1456.

On the anniversary of the birth of an extremely talented, headstrong poet who was taken from us too soon.

A look back on the words and phrases that defined the Russian language in 2015.

This issue's language insert excerpts this famous Pushkin fairy tale in search of anachronistic words.

According to an Udege proverb, “If you see a tiger for one second, he has been watching you for an hour.” And what happens if one unwittingly unleashes a tiger’s bad side? You must, the Udege believe, hunt down and kill the tiger – not an easy thing.

Nikolai Gogol was born in Ukraine and is revered in his homeland. So why is the house where he lived in Odessa in such disrepair, and will anything ever be done about it?

One hundred and fifty-eight years ago, Russia’s first photojournalist was born... ?as a serf. How he overcame his difficult youth is a great story. How he turned photography into a tool for social change is an even better one.

How are busy, young Russians coping in the era of Tinder and online dating? Our reporter finds it to be largely a world of scammers and sketchy apps.

Where we look back at a 1912 feast, scrutinizing the menu to learn how the upper crust of Russian society ate.

Reviews of "The Big Green Tent," by Lyudmila Ulitskaya, "The Gates of Europe," by Serhii Plokhy, and a new translation of "Red Cavalry," by Isaac Babel.

A consideration of envy and how many are reacting to Svetlana Alexievich's winning the Nobel Prize in Literature.