The author was a Moscow literary critic, historian of Soviet literature, and writer. This book is a collection of articles, essays, feuilletons of the 80-90s, which the author describes in the forward: 'That was a time of hope, many of which, if you look from today, were not destined to come true. And although I never thought that the way out of that monstrous historical impasse into which the...

During the Great Patriotic War, the following joke circulated: Why is the Li-2 so fat, the Il-2 so 'humpbacked', and the Pe-2 so thin? Because the Li-2 was speculating throughout the war, the attack aircraft carried the burden of the war on its shoulders, and the Pe-2, like a prostitute, was thrown into various roles – sometimes as a reconnaissance aircraft, sometimes as a fighter, sometimes as...

This book is about real men – the pilots and navigators of the famous Po-2 (U-2) ‘crop duster’ aircraft. Operating this plane didn't require exceptional skills or abilities during initial flight training; after all, it wasn't a fighter or a long-range bomber. However, the tasks the crews had to perform demanded immense personal courage and complete dedication. As one veteran recalled: ‘The U-2...

This book is the long-awaited sequel to the major military history bestseller of 2005. It is based on numerous interviews with veteran tank crews who experienced the horrors of war alongside their machines. The tank crews share with the reader the soldier's truth about life at the front, the battles they fought, the arduous work of war, the reasons for defeats, and the true price of the Great...

The book contains documents highlighting the uprising in Iaroslavl the 6th - 21st of July, 1918 in one of the most dramatic events of the Russian Civil War. Most of the materials where previously classified and were not available to researchers before the 1990s. Many of these documents are published here for the first time.

THE LANGUAGE OF THE RUSSIAN EMIGRANT PRESS (1919-1939). The book reflects results of the research based on a material of the richest foreign archives. It is addressed to experts in the field of language of press, language and culture of Russian abroad and to everyone who is interested in history of the first wave of Russian emigration.

An air battle tactic first used in 1914 (by a Russian pilot), ramming the enemy's aircraft with your own was a last-ditch effort to stop a bombing raid. Russian pilots used this tactic over 1000 times during World War Two - often if their airplane was already damaged or out of ammunition. Unlike a kamikaze, these were not considered suicide missions, as the pilot might try to bail out after...

The seminal work of the French Sociologist Roger Caillois, a translation of Les jeux et les hommes (1958). It is an influential book on the sociology of play and games, or rather in Caillois' terms sociology derived from play. Caillois sees many of the structures in society as elaborate forms of games and many behaviours as forms of play.