March 01, 2004 Putin Held Hostage With his reelection a sure bet, President Vladimir Putin is poised to begin his second Kremlin term. We turned to a noted satirist and opposition activist to find out what he projects for Putin 2.0.
September 01, 2002 Putin's Russia On the occasion of President Vladimir Putin's 50th birthday, we look back at how far Russia has come since January 1, 2000, and where it appears to be going.
November 01, 2011 Putin is Dead! Long Live Putin! A round up of political jokes and jabs being bandied about in the wake of Putin's announcement that he will be running for the presidency again.
April 08, 2023 Defector Reveals Kremlin Paranoia A defector offers insights into the daily life and paranoia of Russia's president.
February 22, 2000 Yeltsin's Surprise Resignation On New Year's Eve, 1999, while many braced for a possible Y2K disaster, Boris Yeltsin resigned as president of the Russian Federation leaving a little known prime minister in charge.
January 27, 2004 Putinlovefest Russia's March presidential election was exciting for about 5 minutes, when there was talk amongst "opposition" candidates of boycotting elections, to deny Putin an electoral minimum, bringing a constitutionally mandated end to his presidency. But, by minute 6, a prominent democrat had defected and enough wacko candidates were popping up in the wings to guarantee the required 50% voter turnout. Now we are ensured a Putinlovefest of unprecedented proportions. Stay tuned...
May 23, 2011 Dima, Volodya and Alice What exactly is a Russian liberal? Has this species ever been seen in the wild (by which I mean the Kremlin)? In her spot-on analysis of Russia's ruling tandem in today's Washington Post, Liliya Shevtsova highlights this question brilliantly...
Chekhov Bilingual Some of Chekhov's most beloved stories, with English and accented Russian on facing pages throughout.
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.
How Russia Got That Way A fast-paced crash course in Russian history, from Norsemen to Navalny, that explores the ways the Kremlin uses history to achieve its ends.
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.
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.
Moscow and Muscovites Vladimir Gilyarovsky's classic portrait of the Russian capital is one of Russians’ most beloved books. Yet it has never before been translated into English. Until now! It is a spectactular verbal pastiche: conversation, from gutter gibberish to the drawing room; oratory, from illiterates to aristocrats; prose, from boilerplate to Tolstoy; poetry, from earthy humor to Pushkin.
A Taste of Russia The definitive modern cookbook on Russian cuisine has been totally updated and redesigned in a 30th Anniversary Edition. Layering superbly researched recipes with informative essays on the dishes' rich historical and cultural context, A Taste of Russia includes over 200 recipes on everything from borshch to blini, from Salmon Coulibiac to Beef Stew with Rum, from Marinated Mushrooms to Walnut-honey Filled Pies. A Taste of Russia shows off the best that Russian cooking has to offer. Full of great quotes from Russian literature about Russian food and designed in a convenient wide format that stays open during use.
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.
Okudzhava Bilingual Poems, songs and autobiographical sketches by Bulat Okudzhava, the king of the Russian bards.
The Samovar Murders The murder of a poet is always more than a murder. When a famous writer is brutally stabbed on the campus of Moscow’s Lumumba University, the son of a recently deposed African president confesses, and the case assumes political implications that no one wants any part of.
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.
The Latchkey Murders Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin is back on the case in this prequel to the popular mystery Murder at the Dacha, in which a serial killer is on the loose in Khrushchev’s Moscow...