A peasant's song comparing himself to the Tsar brings him an audience with the ruler.

A peasant's song comparing himself to the Tsar brings him an audience with the ruler.

Blood and Fire, Tsar and Commissarexamines the Salvation Army's first attempt to establish itself in Russia during the early decades of the twentieth century. It is a stirring story of faith, determination and endurance of a would-be-law-abiding organization struggling (despite police raids, death by epidemic and other catastrophes) to work in a place where, prior to the revolutions of 1917, it did not officially exist.

A novel about the aberration and endurance of the human condition translated by Tiina Nunnally. Soerine, a deformed female dwarf from Denmark, is given as a gift to the Russian Tsar, Peter the Great because he is taken by her freakishness and intellect. Against her will Peter takes her to St. Petersburg where she becomes a jester in his court, Forced to live a life that both compels and repels her, she gives in to the attentions of the Tsar’s favorite dwarf, Lukas and carves out an existence for herself amidst the squalor and lice-ridden life of dwarfs in early 18th century. Disaster eventually strikes in the shape of a priest who wants to “save” her.

These stories of heroism and magic, and of terrifying encounters with Baba Yaga, Zmei the serpent and Koschchei the Immortal, represent at least one example of every wondertale type known in Russia.

A comprehensive guide to children's and adolescent fiction, traditional literature, and biography/autobiography dealing with the nationalities of the Soviet Union, this book is intended as a resource for teachers, librarians, and parents seeking to imbue young people with a sympathetic understanding of another culture. It indicates the breadth of publications in the field and offers guidance in selecting the most appropriate books. The annotated bibliography thoroughly describes 536 books written in or translated into English and published from 1900 to 1990, portraying the lives of Russian and Soviet immigrants in Europe and North America. The literature itself reflects more than a thousand years of history, from the establishment of Kievan Rus', the largest state of early-medieval Europe, through the Mongol invasion and the rise and fall of imperial Russia, to the establishment of the Soviet Union and the period of political and cultural ferment in the early 1990s. The sources are grouped according to major geographical and political regions (The Russian Federation; The Ukraine, Byelorussia, and Moldavia; Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania; Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan; Kazakhstan, Kirghizia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan) and further divided by genres. Annotations generally provide plot summary, literary analysis and criticism, evaluation of illustrations, and information about literary and artistic awards. Reading and use levels are included with the citations. Indexes of author, translator, and illustrator, of titles, and of subjects are provided, with the latter referring to topical areas as well as historical periods and personages and geographical and political areas and terms. The volume introduction offers a survey of the Soviet lands and peoples and their literary activities, with special emphasis on literature for youth.

This book is a vivid account of life in Moscow, "the most Russian of Russian cities," in the year 1903, a year before Russia's disastrous war with Japan and two years before the momentous Revolution of 1905. Though the undercurrents of social change were running swiftly, the surface stability of the Tsarist regime show no indication of the turmoil ahead. The author, who is perhaps best known for his biography Tolstoy, describes Russian life through the eyes of a fictional young Englishman visiting a prosperous Russian merchant family. All facets of Moscow life are covered, from entertainment and night life to family life and the devotions of the Orthodox. We learn about Russia's factory workers and peasants, its soldiers and lawyers, its priests and its city officials, its Tsar and his entourage: what they do and what they wear, what they think and what they dream. Concluding chapters take our visitor to the famous fair at Nizhny-Novgorod, which was held every year from July 15 to September 10, and on a boat trip down the Volga.