Sept/Oct 2007

From the Editor

Readers comment and correct.

The latest from the travel front.

All the news that fits from all across Russia.

A look at the present Russo-British spy spat in the context of a long bilateral history of bumpy relations.

Beep... beep... beep... In October 1957, a tiny satellite sailed round and round the Earth. Launched from Russia, it kicked off the Space Race and changed how we viewed our world and Russian science.

Alexander Smirdin was one of Russia's first, great publishers. He loved books more than money and that may have brought about his ruin.

Konstantin Tsiolkovsky was the father of Russian space travel. A quirky, half-deaf teacher, he inspired generations with his idealistic views of the age to come.

The language of hair is, well, a bit knotty...

The magisterial tigers of Russia's Far East are on the brink of extinction. Threats to their survival are legion: from poachers to Chinese "healers" to nervous villagers to corrupt bureaucrats. All told, just a few hundred Amur Tigers remain in the wild.

Some 90 years after the first modern Winter Olympics, Russia, likely the country most identified with winter, will finally host its first Winter Olympic Games. Now it's time to get building.

Russia has ever been suspicious of modern psychotherapy, and the Soviet regime had its own way of dealing with (and defining) mental illness, which made it something of an international pariah. Luckily, those days are behind us... or are they?

Perched on the rocky cliffs of California's Pacific coast is Fort Ross, a National Park commemorating the southernmost point of Russian colonial settlement in the Americas. Each July, thousands flock to the Fort for an annual celebration.

Marina Tsvetaeva was born to wealth, but her adult life was shaped by hardship and tragedy. For this reason, her literary work is all the more passionate and enthralling.

The history of food in space, through Russian eyes. Plus a great recipe for an Apple Zefir so light and ethereral it will make you feel like it floats.

We review a new book on Sophia Tolstoy's photography hobby, an excellent translation of Andrei Sinyavsky's book on Russian folk belief, and a great armchair travel book on rafting down one of the world's wildest rivers.

A look back at the life of Alexander Tatarsky, a genius of Russian animation who passed away this summer.