The Russia Reader
eBook - PDF

The Russia Reader

History, Culture, Politics

  1. English
  2. PDF
  3. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - PDF

The Russia Reader

History, Culture, Politics

About this book

Letters recording the reactions of ordinary Russians to the Revolution as events unfolded in 1917, an account of the day-to-day scramble to make a living after the end of the Soviet Union, and excerpts from a sixteenth-century manual instructing elite Muscovites on proper household management—The Russia Reader brings these and many other selections together in this introduction to the history, culture, and politics of the world's largest country, from the earliest written accounts of the Russian people to today. Conveying the texture of everyday life alongside experiences of epic historical events, the book is filled with the voices of men and women, rulers and revolutionaries, peasants, soldiers, literary figures, émigrés, journalists, and scholars. Most of the selections are by Russians, and thirty are translated into English for the first time.

Illustrated with maps, paintings, photographs, posters, and cartoons, The Russia Reader incorporates song lyrics, jokes, anecdotes, and folktales, as well as poems, essays, and fiction by writers including Akhmatova, Dostoyevsky, Pushkin, and Tolstoi. Transcripts from the show trials of major Party figures and an account of how staff at the Lenin Library in Moscow were instructed to interact with foreigners are among the many selections based on personal memoirs and archival materials only recently made available to the public. From a tenth-century emissary's description of his encounters in Kyivan Rus', to a scientist's recollections of her life in a new research city built from scratch in Siberia during the 1950s, to a novelist's depiction of the decadence of the "New Russians" in the 2000s, The Russia Reader is an extraordinary introduction to a vast and varied country.

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Yes, you can access The Russia Reader by Adele Marie Barker, Bruce Grant, Adele Marie Barker,Bruce Grant, Robin Kirk,Orin Starn in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in History & Russian History. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.
44
Bathing 
the 
Russian 
Way
In 
the 
baths. 
Courtesy 
of 
Rick 
Hibberd.
I’ll 
give 
in 
to 
the 
heat, 
and 
in 
delirium,
The 
hot 
steam 
will 
loosen 
my 
tongue.
I 
remember, 
how 
in 
the 
wee 
hours 
one 
morning,
I 
cried 
out 
to 
my 
brother—Help 
me!
And 
then 
a 
couple 
of 
handsome 
guards
Led 
me 
from 
this 
‘‘Siberia’’ 
to 
that 
one.
∂
And 
then 
later, 
in 
the 
swamp 
or 
the 
quarry,
Having 
swallowed 
our 
share 
of 
coal 
dust 
and 
tears,
We 
inked 
the 
profiles 
closer 
to 
our 
hearts,
∑
So 
he’d 
hear 
just 
how 
they 
were 
bursting.
No, 
don’t 
stoke 
me 
a 
white 
bania
.
I’m 
not 
used 
to 
this 
wide 
world 
no 
more.
I’ll 
give 
in 
to 
the 
heat, 
and 
in 
delirium,
The 
hot 
steam 
will 
loosen 
my 
tongue.
Oh, 
I 
shudder 
from 
the 
story 
so 
faithful!
The 
steam’s 
chased 
all 
thoughts 
from 
my 
mind.
And 
from 
the 
fog 
of 
an 
icy 
past,
I 
plunge 
into 
a 
searing 
haze.

Table of contents

  1. Contents
  2. Acknowledgments
  3. General Introduction
  4. I. Icons and Archetypes
  5. II. From Kyiv through Muscovy
  6. III. Reform to Revolution
  7. IV. Far Pavilions: Siberia
  8. V. A Changing Countryside
  9. VI. Near Pavilions: The Caucasus
  10. VII. Revolution
  11. VIII. Building a New World from Old
  12. IX. Rising Stalinism
  13. X. The Great Terror
  14. XI. The War Years
  15. XII. The Thaw
  16. XIII. Russians Abroad, Near and Far
  17. XIV. Life under Advanced Socialism
  18. XV. Things Fall Apart
  19. XVI. Building a New World, Again
  20. Suggestions for Further Reading
  21. Acknowledgment of Copyrights and Sources
  22. Index