April 16, 2022

Refugees Aboard the Volendam


Refugees Aboard the Volendam
A luxurious and expensive floating device.  Pexels, Matthew Barra. 

Holland America, a well-known luxury cruise line, made a contribution to the humanitarian effort for Ukrainian refugees. In March, Holland America president Gus Antorcha was asked by Dutch government officials if any ships would be available to house Ukrainian refugees. This after the Dutch government committed to taking in 50,000 Ukrainian refugees. 

Antorcha said yes, and offered up the ship Volendam, captained by Ryan Whitaker, which will be able to provide shelter to approximately 1,500 Ukrainian refugees for about three months. The ship will be docked at Merwehaven port in Rotterdam. Not only is shelter being provided, but Holland America has vowed to provide hot meals, fitness facilities, housekeeping, and even internet access. 

The Volendam had been booked for three trips, which are now being canceled, and ticketed guests are being given other accommodations. The Volendam will resume its usual service on July 3.

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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.
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Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.
93 Untranslatable Russian Words

93 Untranslatable Russian Words

Every language has concepts, ideas, words and idioms that are nearly impossible to translate into another language. This book looks at nearly 100 such Russian words and offers paths to their understanding and translation by way of examples from literature and everyday life. Difficult to translate words and concepts are introduced with dictionary definitions, then elucidated with citations from literature, speech and prose, helping the student of Russian comprehend the word/concept in context.
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At the Circus (bilingual)

At the Circus (bilingual)

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