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THE THIRTEEN TALES IN THIS VOLUME - a baker's dozen of stories - were all written by Russian e¿migre¿s, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century to avoid the turmoil of war and revolution. And while the stories are the work of nine very different writers, who all had very different experiences of exile, all are united by a single theme: mystery. You will also find a fair dose of magic and mysticism here, of te...

IT IS THE WORK THAT MADE CHEKHOV, launching his career as a writer and playwright of national and international renown. And it is an elegiac, beautiful story of a bygone era, with compelling characters and incomparable imagery. Biographer Donald Rayfield said the tale was Chekhov's "memorial to a wild countryside that was now engulfed... Steppe is literally a masterpiece." Retranslated and updated, this new bilingual edition is a super way...

ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS OF RUSSIAN PLAYS, the four-act comedy in verse Woe from Wit skewers staid, nineteenth century Russian society, and it positively teems with "winged phrases" that are essential colloquialisms for students of Russian and Russian culture. Presented here in bilingual format (English and accented Russian on facing pages), Griboyedov's masterpiece becomes newly accessible to Russophiles of all levels and abilities. "Winged phr...

This astonishingly gripping autobiography by the founder of the Russian Women's Death Battallion in World War I is an eye-opening documentary of life before, during and after the Bolshevik Revolution. Surviving domestic abuse and Siberian exile, Maria Bochkareva resolved to fight for the Motherland in the Great Patriotic War and, against all odds, succeeded. Her stories from the front are harrowing and gritty. But they are only the beginn...

This newly rediscovered gem of a novel by one of Russia's finest writers explores some of the thorniest issues of the early twentieth century. And reviewers have hailed the translation as "a coup" and "a remarkable achievement." An absent-minded professor and a glamorous yet bumbling spy struggle over a powerful secret formula in this tale filled with eccentric personalities, wild dialogue, improbable sounds, bristling images and vivid col...

KGB Chief Yuri Andropov himself has tapped Senior Detective Matyushkin to solve a brazen jewel heist from Picasso's wife at the posh Metropole Hotel. But when the case bleeds over into murder, machinations, and international intrigue, dredging up long-forgotten histories from the Civil War, not everyone is eager to see where the clues might lead. Yet Matyushkin - as relentless and gut-driven as ever - won't be stopped, even if it mean...

You cannot separate Russians from their vodka or vodka from Russia. For over 600 years, this proud Slavic culture has - for good or ill - been inextricably bound up with their national drink. This has been expressed in literature, song, politics, history and every aspect of popular culture. In this comprehensive, quixotic and addictive book, Edwin Trommelen explores all facets of the Russian obsession with vodka. Peering chiefly through th...

A book that dares to explore the humanity of priests and pilgrims, saints and sinners, Faith & Humor has been both a runaway bestseller in Russia and the focus of heated controversy - as often happens when a thoughtful writer takes on sacred cows. The stories, aphorisms, anecdotes, dialogues and adventures in this volume comprise an encyclopedia of modern Russian Orthodoxy, and thereby of Russian life. Faith & Humor caused a sensation when ...

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!First published in 1926, this work has been translated into English for the first time and it positively teems with rich descriptions and vivid anecdotes:* from the depths of Moscow's sewers to the murky back rooms of its gambling dens...* from the steam-filled halls of banyas to...

The very word Siberia evokes a history and reputation as awesome as it is enthralling. In this acclaimed book on Russia's conquest of its eastern realms, Benson Bobrick offers a story that is both rich and subtle, broad and deep. From its conquest by Cossacks and its exploration and settlement in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, through its terrifying Gulag history, to its modern place in a world hungry for natural resources, Siberia -...

Ivan the Terrible - the name evokes the legend of a cruel and dangerously insane tyrant. Fearful Majesty explores that legend and exposes the man, his nature, and his time. 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. Ivan IV oversaw huge conquests of n...

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. This was but the first in a string of daring move...

The Little Humpbacked Horse is a beloved Russian classic, written in the 1830s. It is the tale of a resourceful Russian peasant, Vanya, and his miracle-working horse, who together undergo various trials, exploits and adventures at the whim of a laughable tsar (indeed, this portrayal of the tsar got the book banned for 20 years in the nineteenth century). It is a tale of love and bravery, fantasy and humor, and it is all told in beautiful,...

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin has a problem. Several, actually. Not the least of them is the fact that a powerful Soviet boss has been murdered, and Matyushkin's surly commander has given him an unreasonably short time frame to close the case. Then there is the KGB colonel who seems a bit too interested in the course of Matyushkin's investigation... and Pavel's womanizing office mate, who gets involved with a subject of the case... an...

Stargorod is emphatically not big..." So begins Peter Aleshkovsky's profound, humorous, mystical and poetic novel in stories - a tribute to Russian provincial life that is a modern heir to Gogol's Mirgorod tales. Stargorod is a mid-sized provincial city that exists only in Russian metaphorical space. It has its roots in Gogol, and Ilf and Petrov, and is a place far from Moscow, but close to Russian hearts. It is a place of mystery and ...

This wonderful novella by Alexander Kuprin tells the story of the wrestler Arbuzov and his battle against a renowned American wrestler. Rich in detail and characterization, At the Circus brims with excitement and life. You can smell the sawdust in the big top, see the vivid and colorful characters, sense the tension build as Arbuzov readies to face off against the American. Yet not only is this a wonderful work of fiction by one of Russia...

Soon after Marguerite Harrison's gripping autobiography was published, the New York Timescalled it the most interesting and valuable book available on contemporary Russia. Yet, inexplicably, the work has been out of print for 80 years. First published in 1921, just months after Harrison's release from a Bolshevik prison. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of her entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impress...

On one level, this book is the story of an epic 6000-kilometer road trip from the frigid shores of the Barents Sea to Sochi, Russia's southernmost tip on the Black Sea. Dubbed "The Spine of Russia, " the adventure tasked a mismatched duo of Russian and American journalists with capturing a view of Russia from the ground, to collect powerful images and honest human stories that offered a more subtle, complex picture of the world's largest count...

Benjamin Disraeli advised, "Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory." With Jews in Service to the Tsar, Lev Berdnikov offers us 28 biographies spanning five centuries of Russian Jewish history, and each portrait opens a new window onto the history of Eastern Europe's Jews, illuminating dark corners and challenging widely-held conceptions about the role of Jews in Russian history. The 28 individuals profiled ...

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin is back on the case in this prequel to the popular mystery Murder at the Dacha. A serial killer is on the loose in Khrushchev's Moscow, rattling the foundations of the communist state (such anti-social crimes only occur in decadent bourgeois societies, after all). The victims are as pitifully innocent as the crimes are grievous, and Petrovka 38 runs down one blind alley after another, while its most ...