The Last Man in Russia

The Last Man in Russia PDF Author: Oliver Bullough
Publisher: Basic Books
ISBN: 0465074979
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 298

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Book Description
Russia is dying from within. Oligarchs and oil barons may still dominate international news coverage, but their prosperity masks a deep-rooted demographic tragedy. Faced with staggering population decline—and near-certain economic collapse—driven by toxic levels of alcohol abuse, Russia is also battling a deeper sickness: a spiritual one, born out of the country’s long totalitarian experiment. In The Last Man in Russia, award-winning journalist Oliver Bullough uses the tale of a lone priest to give life to this national crisis. Father Dmitry Dudko, a dissident Orthodox Christian, was thrown into a Stalinist labor camp for writing poetry. Undaunted, on his release in the mid-1950s he began to preach to congregations across Russia with little concern for his own safety. At a time when the Soviet government denied its subjects the prospect of advancement, and turned friend against friend and brother against brother, Dudko urged his followers to cling to hope. He maintained a circle of sacred trust at the heart of one of history’s most deceitful systems. But as Bullough reveals, this courageous group of believers was eventually shattered by a terrible act of betrayal—one that exposes the full extent of the Communist tragedy. Still, Dudko’s dream endures. Although most Russians have forgotten the man himself, the embers of hope that survived the darkness are once more beginning to burn. Leading readers from a churchyard in Moscow to the snow-blanketed ghost towns of rural Russia, and from the forgotten graves of Stalin’s victims to a rock festival in an old gulag camp, The Last Man in Russia is at once a travelogue, a sociological study, a biography, and a cri de coeur for a dying nation—one that, Bullough shows, might yet be saved.

The Last Man in Russia

The Last Man in Russia PDF Author: Oliver Bullough
Publisher: Basic Books
ISBN: 0465074979
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 298

Get Book Here

Book Description
Russia is dying from within. Oligarchs and oil barons may still dominate international news coverage, but their prosperity masks a deep-rooted demographic tragedy. Faced with staggering population decline—and near-certain economic collapse—driven by toxic levels of alcohol abuse, Russia is also battling a deeper sickness: a spiritual one, born out of the country’s long totalitarian experiment. In The Last Man in Russia, award-winning journalist Oliver Bullough uses the tale of a lone priest to give life to this national crisis. Father Dmitry Dudko, a dissident Orthodox Christian, was thrown into a Stalinist labor camp for writing poetry. Undaunted, on his release in the mid-1950s he began to preach to congregations across Russia with little concern for his own safety. At a time when the Soviet government denied its subjects the prospect of advancement, and turned friend against friend and brother against brother, Dudko urged his followers to cling to hope. He maintained a circle of sacred trust at the heart of one of history’s most deceitful systems. But as Bullough reveals, this courageous group of believers was eventually shattered by a terrible act of betrayal—one that exposes the full extent of the Communist tragedy. Still, Dudko’s dream endures. Although most Russians have forgotten the man himself, the embers of hope that survived the darkness are once more beginning to burn. Leading readers from a churchyard in Moscow to the snow-blanketed ghost towns of rural Russia, and from the forgotten graves of Stalin’s victims to a rock festival in an old gulag camp, The Last Man in Russia is at once a travelogue, a sociological study, a biography, and a cri de coeur for a dying nation—one that, Bullough shows, might yet be saved.

Beethoven in Russia

Beethoven in Russia PDF Author: Frederick W. Skinner
Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 025306306X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 346

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Book Description
How did Ludwig van Beethoven help overthrow a tsarist regime? With the establishment of the Russian Musical Society and its affiliated branches throughout the empire, Beethoven's music reached substantially larger audiences at a time of increasing political instability. In addition, leading music critics of the regime began hearing Beethoven's dramatic works as nothing less than a call to revolution. Beethoven in Russia deftly explores the interface between music and politics in Russia by examining the reception of Beethoven's works from the late 18th century to the present. In part 1, Frederick W. Skinner's clear and sweeping review examines the role of Beethoven's more dramatic works in the revolutionary struggle that culminated in the Revolution of 1917. In part 2, Skinner reveals how this same power was again harnessed to promote Stalin's campaign of rapid industrialization. The appropriation of Beethoven and his music to serve the interests of the state remained the hallmark of Soviet Beethoven reception until the end of communist rule. With interdisciplinary appeal in the areas of history, music, literature, and political thought, Beethoven in Russia shows how Beethoven's music served as a call to action for citizens and weaponized state propaganda in the great political struggles that shaped modern Russian history.

Higher Education in Russia

Higher Education in Russia PDF Author: Yaroslav Kuzminov
Publisher: JHU Press
ISBN: 1421444151
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 429

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Book Description
A comprehensive, up-to-date look at modern Russian higher education. By the mid-eighteenth century, when the first university appeared in Russia, many European nations could boast of long and glorious university traditions. But Russia, with its poorly developed system of elementary and secondary education, lagged behind other European countries and seemed destined for a long spell of second-tier performance. Yet by the mid-twentieth century, the fully reformed system of Soviet higher education was perceived as an unexpected success, one that transformed the country into a major scientific power throughout the Cold War. Today, the international community is keeping close tabs on the fast development of world-class higher education in Russia, specifically its large-scale changes and reforms. Higher Education in Russia is the first comprehensive, up-to-date overview and analysis of modern Russian higher education. Aimed at a large international audience, it describes the current realities of higher education in Russia, as well as the main principles, logic, and relevant historical and cultural factors. Outlining the evolution of the higher education system in tsarist Russia throughout the nineteenth century, Yaroslav Kuzminov and Maria Yudkevich describe the development of its mass-scale higher education system from the end of the Second World War to the collapse of the Soviet Union and beyond. They also discuss the principal elements of today's Russian higher education system while exploring the system's governance model and the logic of its resource allocation. They touch on university selection, the structure of the country's academic profession, the organization of research, and the major excellence programs of leading universities. Illustrating the idea that the development of the higher education system is very much linked with the European experience, the authors argue that Russian higher education was often the domain of successful (and not so successful) education experiments and innovations. Higher Education in Russia is a must-read for scholars of higher education and Russian history alike.

Russia ABCs

Russia ABCs PDF Author: Ann Berge
Publisher: Capstone
ISBN: 1404802843
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 33

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Book Description
Privyet! Welcome to Russia! Come along on this ABC adventure through the biggest country on Earth. Read about diamond-studded eggs, the deepest lake in the world, and other fascinating facts.

Lost and Found in Russia

Lost and Found in Russia PDF Author: Susan Richards
Publisher: Other Press, LLC
ISBN: 1590513487
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 369

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Book Description
Susan Richards draws from her own experiences, as well as those of people she met during repeated visits to Russia between 1992 and 2008, to look at what live is like in the former Soviet Union since the end of communism.

I Found God in Soviet Russia

I Found God in Soviet Russia PDF Author: John H. Noble
Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing
ISBN: 1839741058
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 204

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Book Description
I Found God in Soviet Russia, first published in 1959, is a profoundly moving account of author John Noble's religious epiphany while confined in a brutal Soviet prison following World War II. The book also recounts Noble's harrowing survival of the massive Allied fire-bombing of Dresden, where he and his family took shelter in the cellar of their home (which was partially destroyed during the raid). Following World War II, Noble, along with his father, were arrested in East Germany and held in several prison camps in Germany including the infamous Nazi-era Buchenwald. Noble is eventually transferred to Vorkuta in far northern Russia where he works in a coal mine. Sustained by his faith and devotion to God, Noble recounts his experiences, stories of his captors and fellow inmates, and the deep faith shown by many of the other prisoners. Of special note is a chapter devoted to three nuns who, as punishment for refusing to work, were placed outdoors in sub-zero weather in only lightweight-clothing. Miraculously, the nuns came through the ordeal without frostbite and were thereafter excused from work details. Following an imprisonment of nearly 10 years, Noble was eventually released to the West, and would go on to lecture about his experiences for the remainder of his life. I Found God in Soviet Russia complements the author's other book entitled I Was a Slave in Russia, which details the day-to-day life in the Soviet gulag.

Democracy Derailed in Russia

Democracy Derailed in Russia PDF Author: M. Steven Fish
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139446851
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 466

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Book Description
Why has democracy failed to take root in Russia? After shedding the shackles of Soviet rule, some countries in the postcommunist region undertook lasting democratization. Yet Russia did not. Russia experienced dramatic political breakthroughs in the late 1980s and early 1990s, but it subsequently failed to maintain progress toward democracy. In this book, M. Steven Fish offers an explanation for the direction of regime change in post-Soviet Russia. Relying on cross-national comparative analysis as well as on in-depth field research in Russia, Fish shows that Russia's failure to democratize has three causes: too much economic reliance on oil, too little economic liberalization, and too weak a national legislature. Fish's explanation challenges others that have attributed Russia's political travails to history, political culture, or to 'shock therapy' in economic policy. The book offers a theoretically original and empirically rigorous explanation for one of the most pressing political problems of our time.

Made in Russia

Made in Russia PDF Author: Bela Shayevich
Publisher: Rizzoli International publication
ISBN: 0847836053
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 226

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Book Description
Offers a survey of commercial products created in Russia during the 1960s and 1970s through photographs and essays that describe the inspiration, design, and consumer success of each product.

K9 Working Breeds

K9 Working Breeds PDF Author: Resi Gerritsen
Publisher: Dog Training Press
ISBN: 155059317X
Category : Pets
Languages : en
Pages : 242

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Book Description
In order to understand people better, we often look to their past. Resi Gerritsen and Ruud Haak show that the same is true for dog breeds. By taking a look back through the history of those breeds most active in K9 work, Gerritsen and Haak reveal why the traits of each breed emerged to make them world class K9 workers. Each chapter in this book examines the history, characteristics, training experience, and physical defects of the world's best working breeds. Only through understanding a breed's history can a K9 handler truly appreciate the different characteristics and capabilities of the dog they're working with. Knowing this information is invaluable in training a dog in order to develop his full potential. To this end, the authors include a chapter devoted to the difference in training the increasingly popular Malinois versus the previous top K9 worker, the German Shepherd.

Everyday Law in Russia

Everyday Law in Russia PDF Author: Kathryn Hendley
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 1501708090
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 377

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Book Description
Everyday Law in Russia challenges the prevailing common wisdom that Russians cannot rely on their law and that Russian courts are hopelessly politicized and corrupt. While acknowledging the persistence of verdicts dictated by the Kremlin in politically charged cases, Kathryn Hendley explores how ordinary Russian citizens experience law. Relying on her own extensive observational research in Russia’s new justice-of-the-peace courts as well as her analysis of a series of focus groups, she documents Russians’ complicated attitudes regarding law. The same Russian citizen who might shy away from taking a dispute with a state agency or powerful individual to court might be willing to sue her insurance company if it refuses to compensate her for damages following an auto accident. Hendley finds that Russian judges pay close attention to the law in mundane disputes, which account for the vast majority of the cases brought to the Russian courts. Any reluctance on the part of ordinary Russian citizens to use the courts is driven primarily by their fear of the time and cost—measured in both financial and emotional terms—of the judicial process. Like their American counterparts, Russians grow more willing to pursue disputes as the social distance between them and their opponents increases; Russians are loath to sue friends and neighbors, but are less reluctant when it comes to strangers or acquaintances. Hendley concludes that the "rule of law" rubric is ill suited to Russia and other authoritarian polities where law matters most—but not all—of the time.