The Marquis de Custine’s record of his trip to Russia in 1839 is a brilliantly perceptive, even prophetic, account of one of the world’s most fascinating and troubled countries. It is also a wonderful piece of travel writing. Custine, who met with people in all walks of life, including the Czar himself, offers vivid descriptions of St. Petersburg and Moscow, of life at court and on the street, and of the impoverished Russian countryside. But together with a wealth of sharply delineated inc...

**'Bizarre and quite brilliant.' Dominic Sandbrook, Sunday Times'Thrilling.' Michael Burleigh, Sunday Telegraph'Francis Spufford has one of the most original minds in contemporary literature.' Nick Hornby**The Soviet Union was founded on a fairytale. It was built on 20th-century magic called 'the planned economy', which was going to gush forth an abundance of good things that the penny-pinching lands of capitalism could never match. And just for a ...

To the Edge of the World is an adventure in travel -- full of extraordinary personalities, more than a century of explosive political, economic, and cultural events, and almost inconceivable feats of engineering. Christian Wolmar passionately recounts the improbable origins of the Trans-Siberian railroad, the vital artery for Russian expansion that spans almost 6,000 miles and seven time zones from Moscow to Vladivostok. The world's longest train route took a decade to build -- in...

'A love affair through an interpreter,' said Raya. 'That's a very cultured prospect.'Raya is a mercurial Moscow blonde who speaks no English, and the affair she is embarking upon is with Gordon Proctor-Gould, a visiting British businessman who speaks no Russian. They need an interpreter; which is how Paul Manning is diverted from writing his thesis at Moscow university to become involved in all the deceptions of love and East-West relations.

In 1996, Tom Bissell went to Uzbekistan as a na•ve Peace Corps volunteer. Though he lasted only a few months before illness and personal crisis forced him home, Bissell found himself entranced by this remote land. Five years later he returned to explore the shrinking Aral Sea, destroyed by Soviet irrigation policies. Joining up with an exuberant translator named Rustam, Bissell slips more than once through the clutches of the Uzbek police as he makes his often wild way to the devastated se...

Contains 92 illustrations and 45 maps of the Russian Campaign.A brilliant modern history of the German invasion of Russia to their bloody crushing defeat by the re-invigorated Russian forces at the siege of Stalingrad.During 1942, the Axis advance reached its high tide on all fronts and began to ebb. Nowhere was this more true than on the Eastern Front in the Soviet Union. After receiving a disastrous setback on the approaches to Moscow in the winter of 1941-1942, the German ...

This acclaimed twenty-first–century Russian novel is "a Dantean descent" into the abandoned Soviet gulags, written "with a clear poetic sensibility" ( The Wall Street Journal).In Sergei Lebedev's debut novel, an unnamed young man travels to the vast wastelands of the Far North to uncover the truth about a mysterious neighbor who once saved his life, and whom he knows only as Grandfather II. What he finds among the forgotten mines and decrepit barracks of f...

If I had let myself be ruled by reason alone, I would surely be lying dead somewhere or another in the Siberian frost.The Siberian taiga: a massive forest region of roughly 4.5 million square miles, stretching from the Ural Mountains to the Bering Sea, breathtakingly beautiful and the coldest inhabited region in the world. Winter temperatures plummet to a bitter 97 degrees below zero, and beneath the permafrost lie the fossilized remains of mammoths, woolly rhinoceroses, a...

In this amazing eBook you can find more than one hundred facts about the country of Russia. Separated into sections such as its geography, its people, famous Russian figures from history and many more, you will find some fascinating information inside! Whether you are planning on visiting Russia, working on a geography project or just want to know more about the biggest country (by landmass) in the world, this is an excellent addition to your bookshelf. Find the information you need, fast!...

In "Russia in the Shadows," H. G. Wells embarks on a compelling exploration of early 20th-century Russia, delving into the political, social, and cultural upheavals that defined the nation's tumultuous landscape. Written in a journalistic style, the book reflects Wells's characteristic blend of keen observation and speculative insight, framed against the backdrop of Bolshevism's rise. His narrative weaves together vivid accounts and sharp analysis, illustrating the contradictions permeatin...

This book is dedicated to my mother Eve who sadly left this mortal life a few years ago. She died in the right way in so much that she just closed her eyes and went to sleep, forever. But she left us far too early in her life and she had a lot to live for. She was much loved and is sorely missed.It is also dedicated to my father Alan, who gave me the encouragement to travel, and to my brother Martyn who throughout my life has been my best mate and provided brotherly support and advi...

Hi there!My friend Robert texted me one day in London: “Angelos, I’m flying to Moscow tomorrow. Can we catch up tonight at the pub to teach me a little bit of Russian?”Initially, I thought…”WTF? Is he serious? What has he been doing all these days?“I know that it takes at least a couple of weeks to get a Russian visa sorted in the Russian Visa Centre in London. So, he definitely didn’t decide to fly to Moscow today!But then I thought...that’s a challenge! Th...