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.

Indeed, the over 150 stories and biographies in this unique two-volume collection combine to offer a rich, multi-faceted portrait of Russian culture, history and society.

Volume I includes 76 stories on history and culture, from banyas to vodka, from Tsarism to the Bolshevik Revolution, from cultural traditions to social upheavals.

Volume II, includes 78 timeless biographies of Russians who have shaped the country’s history and culture, from artists and poets, to entrepreneurs, rulers, spies and favorites.

Make no mistake about it. These are books with heft. Each tops out at nearly 600 pages and nearly an inch and a half thick, and are big enough to stand in as doorstops or as a reliable paperweight in a mild hurricane. But all of this is more than overshadowed by the wealth of knowledge and information you'll find between each volume's covers. These books will enlarge your Russian world. 'Nuf said.