An elliptical wander through the vast steppe of Russian literature: Lermontov's only novel is comprised of three narratives that frame the Byronic and flawed protagonist Pechorin, in whom al... read more
Angelica Kauffman , Marie-Anne Collot, Elisabeth Vig?e Le Brun, Grand Duchess Maria Fedorovna and others. Blakesley's The Russian Canvas was excellent.
A stunning collaboration between the Tretyakov State Gallery in Moscow, the Frieder Burda Museum in Baden-Baden and the Museum Barberini in Potsdam. Includes works from the 1880s to the 1920... read more
Painter, explorer, writer, archaeologist and theosophist, Roerich was a key figure for Diaghilev and Stravinsky for whom he designed sets and costumes (including The Rite of Spring). He was ... read more
Born in Russia, Poplavsky fled to Paris in the Revolution, where he become a literary and artistic enfant terrible of the emigré circles of Montparnasse. This novel, translated into English... read more
Chekhov's biographer and the premier translator from Georgian has been working on this for years (in between publishing projects). Its publication is a triumph.
A remarkable odyssey around the edges of that vast country - through North Korea, China, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, Poland, Latvia, Estonia, Finl... read more
Fritz D?rries was a German entomologist who first travelled to Siberia as a young man in 1877. He went on to spend a total of twenty-two years there, encountering tigers, bandits, vipers and... read more
After the Armistice in 1918, the Allies' support for anyone contra-German mutated into anti-Bolshevik Intervention. Forces were deployed in Archangel, the Caucasus, the Far East and elsewher... read more
A witness to the Beslan massacre, the former Moscow correspondent sought to ease his soul and deepen his understanding of the roots of violence by taking a 1000-mile walk along the political... read more
Published to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the great impresario's birth. The names of those he worked with, those great and fabulous beings like Goncharova, Stravinsky, Picasso, Fokine,... read more
The legendary Russian pianist, friend of Pasternak and other greats, who fell from grace to live precariously on the fringes of Soviet society. EW is the author of fine biographies of Shosta... read more
We heard about Molotov's library in Rachel Polonsky's superb Molotov's Magic Lantern (£12.99). Now we have a portrait of Stalin through the books he read - and he was an avid reader all his... read more
From the author of the biography of Shchukin comes the story of another extraordinary pre-Revolutionary Russian collector of European art. He spent 1.5 million francs on 486 paintings, which... read more
How Putin and his entourage of KGB men seized power in Russia, controlling the economy through a fiefdom of oligarchs, and have used that wealth to extend their own influence.
This hardba... read more
Anna Roosevelt, Sarah Churchill and Kathleen Harriman all accompanied their fathers to the Yalta Conference. This is an intriguing account of their involvement and influence on events.
It seems the 'Mrs Burton' (born Ursula Kuczynski) who pedalled around the English countryside in 1942 was a colonel in the Red Army. Her life story is extraordinary.