You may have to Search all our reviewed books and magazines, click the sign up button below to create a free account.
Winner of the Pushkin House Russian Book Prize Winner of the University of Southern California Book Prize Honorable Mention, Reginald Zelnik Book Prize “Fascinating and perceptive.” —Antony Beevor, New York Review of Books “Stand aside, Homer. I doubt whether even the author of the Iliad could have matched Alexis Peri’s account of the 872-day siege which Leningrad endured.” —Jonathan Mirsky, The Spectator “Powerful and illuminating...A fascinating, insightful, and nuanced work.” —Anna Reid, Times Literary Supplement “Much has been written about Leningrad’s heroic resistance. But the remarkable aspect of [Peri’s] book is that she tells a very different story: recount...
During the Soviet Union’s Great Patriotic War, from 1941 to 1945, as many as 24 million of its citizens died. 14 million were children ages fourteen or younger. And for those who survived, the suffering was far from over. The prewar Stalinist vision of a “happy childhood” nurtured by a paternal, loving state had given way, out of necessity. What replaced it—the dictate that children be prepared to sacrifice everything, including childhood itself—created a generation all too familiar with deprivation, violence, and death. The experience of these children, and the role of the state in shaping their narrative, are the subject of this book, which fills in a critical but neglected chapt...
This book provides a rich picture of what everyday life was like for women in Soviet times by presenting the life stories of eight women who were born in the interwar period. The life stories are told through interviews with the women who were well educated and well placed in Soviet society, often in elite positions, and therefore well able to observe and articulate the wider conditions for Soviet women besides their own personal circumstances. The interviews, which are edited and preceded by a full introduction setting the context, touch on a wide variety of issues: key events in Soviet history; religion and nationalities policies; and women’s everyday experiences of life in the Soviet Union – growing up and going to school; education; falling in love and getting married; giving birth and starting a family; housework and paid employment; travel; leisure and culture; and remembering the past.
Click here to read the introduction to The Naked Anabaptist. In churches and kitchens and neighborhood centers across the world, communities of Jesus-followers are crafting a vision of radical service, simple living, and commitment to peace. Many are finding a home in a Christian tradition almost five centuries old: Anabaptism. Who are the Anabaptists? What do they believe? Where did they come from? What makes them different from other Christians? And can you become an Anabaptist without leaving your own church? Follow Stuart Murray as he peels back the layers to reveal the core convictions of Anabaptist Christianity, a way of following Jesus that challenges, disturbs, and inspires. Glimpse an alternative to nationalistic, materialistic, individualistic Christian faith. If you are seeking a community of authentic discipleship, heartfelt worship, sacrificial service, and radical peacemaking, consider this your invitation. This new edition features: Voices and stories from North America and the global church. Updated and expanded definition and discussion of Christendom. Updated resource section. Free downloadable study guide available here.
Robin W. Winks placed particular emphasis on those developments that most directly explain the nature of the modern world: social diffusion, group and national consciousness, technological change, religious identities-those aspects of intellectual history that have contributed most to our current dilemmas. In turn this means that there is more in World Civilization: A Brief History about nationalism, imperialism, or ethnic identities than there is about monarchies, feudalism, or diplomacy. The result of the strategic and intellectual decisions made with respect to this textbook is that its proportions are not the customary ones. Particular emphasis is placed on the early origins of civilizat...
When Hitler attacked the Soviet Union in June 1941, he intended to capture Leningrad before turning on Moscow. Soviet resistance forced him to change tactics: with his forward troops only thirty kilometres from the city's historic centre, he decided instead to starve it out. Using newly available diaries and government records, Anna Reid describes a city's descent into hell - the breakdown of electricity and water supply; subzero temperatures; the consumption of pets, joiner's glue and face cream; the dead left unburied where they fell - but also the extraordinary endurance, bravery and self-sacrifice, despite the cruelty and indifference of the Kremlin.
Based largely on formerly top-secret Soviet archival documents (including 66 reproduced documents and 70 illustrations), this book portrays the inner workings of the communist party and secret police during Germany's horrific 1941–44 siege of Leningrad, during which close to one million citizens perished. It shows how the city's inhabitants responded to the extraordinary demands placed upon them, encompassing both the activities of the political, security, and military elite as well as the actions and attitudes of ordinary Leningraders.
A SUNDAY TIMES BEST PAPERBACK OF 2021 * Shortlisted for the 2021 Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year prize * A critically-acclaimed Sunday Times, Spectator and Independent Book of 2020 * Now with colour photography by Michael Turek 'Richly absorbing... An impressive exploration of Siberia's terrifying past.' Guardian 'Evocative and wonderfully original.' Colin Thubron __________ Siberia's expansive history is traditionally one of exiles, bitter cold and suffering. Yet there is another tale to tell. Dotted throughout this remote and beautiful landscape are pianos created during the boom years of the nineteenth century. They tell the story of how, ever since entering Russian culture under ...
In 1941 German and Finnish military forces established a blockade around Leningrad. Their siege of the city would last almost nine hundred days during which Leningrad was struck by incessant aerial bombing and artillery shelling. The winter of 1941-1942 was especially severe. A shortage of fuel forced the Leningraders to huddle around small wood burning stoves and sleep in overcoats. The freezing temperatures caused the pipes of the city's water system to burst. In November, due to the shortage of food, the daily ration of bread was 250 grams for workers and 125 grams for dependents. The siege came to an end in early 1944, but by that time more than a million Leningraders had died. Svetlana Magayeva, just ten years old when the siege began, witnessed the air raids and artillery shelling and endured the cold and hunger. These experiences were so painful that she suppressed them in her subconscious until many years later when an accident re-injured a wound suffered during the siege brought back her memories. Surviving the Blockade of Leningrad is the account of these memories.
When the German High Command encircled Leningrad it was a deliberate policy to eradicate the city’s civilian population by starving them to death. As winter set in and food supplies dwindled, starvation and panic set in. A specialist in battle psychology and the vital role of morale in desperate circumstances, Michael Jones tells the human story of Leningrad. Drawing on newly available eyewitness accounts and diaries, he shows Leningrad in its every dimension including taboo truths, long-suppressed by the Soviets, such as looting, criminal gangs and cannibalism. But, for many ordinary citizens, Leningrad marked the triumph of the human spirit. They drew deeply on their inner resources to i...