August 01, 1996 The Baptizers An excerpt from "A Land Owned by Russia," a book to be published that describes the assimilatio nof Alaska, the Aleutian Islands and northern California by Russian explorers in the 17th-19th centuries, and the work of traders and missionaries in that period.
July 01, 2007 Russian Sitka Nestled between the mountains and the sea, this unassuming harbor town was for sixty years the capital of Russian America. Today, 140 years on, there is still a strong Russian imprint in this former colonial outpost.
July 01, 2013 Looking at Lukin In October 1867, with the stroke of a pen, Russian America became Alaska. But what happened to the Russian colonists and children of Russian colonists for whom this land was home?
May 01, 2013 The Kauai Gambit In the early 1800s, while Napoleon raged in Europe, a German doctor and a local chieftan hatched an audacious plan: claim the Hawaiian islands for Russia.
March 30, 2017 1741: The Year Russia Discovered America You probably know that Alaska was bought from Russia well over 100 years ago. But do you know why Russia claimed the territory in the first place? Hint: who doesn't love a fur coat?
August 30, 2019 What Russian Rock Music Says About the Motherland “Mother Russia” is much more than a stereotype. Everyone has opinions on it, Russian rock musicians included.
December 18, 2020 Russian America There are countless interesting, Russian-related places across North America. We have used the Google Map Engine to show where some of them are.
July 23, 2021 Anchors Far Away Some new historical treasures have been pulled from the sea near Kamchatka.
The Moscow Eccentric Advance reviewers are calling this new translation "a coup" and "a remarkable achievement." This rediscovered gem of a novel by one of Russia's finest writers explores some of the thorniest issues of the early twentieth century.
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.
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.
Chekhov Bilingual Some of Chekhov's most beloved stories, with English and accented Russian on facing pages throughout.
The Little Golden Calf Our edition of The Little Golden Calf, one of the greatest Russian satires ever, is the first new translation of this classic novel in nearly fifty years. It is also the first unabridged, uncensored English translation ever, and is 100% true to the original 1931 serial publication in the Russian journal 30 Dnei. Anne O. Fisher’s translation is copiously annotated, and includes an introduction by Alexandra Ilf, the daughter of one of the book’s two co-authors.
Survival Russian Survival Russian is an intensely practical guide to conversational, colloquial and culture-rich Russian. It uses humor, current events and thematically-driven essays to deepen readers’ understanding of Russian language and culture. This enlarged Second Edition of Survival Russian includes over 90 essays and illuminates over 2000 invaluable Russian phrases and words.
Tolstoy Bilingual This compact, yet surprisingly broad look at the life and work of Tolstoy spans from one of his earliest stories to one of his last, looking at works that made him famous and others that made him notorious.
Steppe / Степь (bilingual) 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.
A Taste of Chekhov This compact volume is an introduction to the works of Chekhov the master storyteller, via nine stories spanning the last twenty years of his life.
Turgenev Bilingual A sampling of Ivan Turgenev's masterful short stories, plays, novellas and novels. Bilingual, with English and accented Russian texts running side by side on adjoining pages.
The Frogs Who Begged for a Tsar (bilingual) 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.
Fearful Majesty This acclaimed biography of one of Russia’s most important and tyrannical rulers is not only a rich, readable biography, it is also surprisingly timely, revealing how many of the issues Russia faces today have their roots in Ivan’s reign.