Russian Biographies

The Romanovs were the most successful dynasty of modern times, ruling a sixth of the world's surface. How did one family turn a war-ruined principality into the world's greatest empire? And how did they lose it all? This is the intimate story of twenty tsars and tsarinas, some touched by genius...

'HUGELY IMPRESSIVE' - THE INDEPENDENT 'AN ASTONISHINGLY FINE HISTORY' - COUNTRY LIFE 'FASCINATING' - DAILY MAIL The history of the world's most successful military alliance, from the wrecked Europe of 1945 to Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine. As they signed NATO into being after World War II...

A hundred years after his murder, Rasputin continues to excite the popular imagination as the personification of evil. The spectre of the lustful Siberian holy man and peasant still casts its eerie shadow over Russia's bloody twentieth century. Numerous biographies, novels, and films recount his...

Bloomsbury presents Nicholas and Alexandra by Robert K. Massie, read by Orlando Wells. A superbly crafted and humane portrait of the final days of the last Romanovs – Nicholas II of Russia and his wife Alexandra. Complementing his Pulitzer prize-winning Peter the Great, in this commanding book...

Random House presents the audiobook edition of Kursk: A Time To Die by Robert Moore, read by Pete Cross. At 11.30 a.m. on Saturday 12 August 2000, two massive explosions roared through the shallow Arctic waters of the Barents Sea. The Kursk, pride of the Northern Fleet and the largest attack...

Winner of the Costa Biography Award What makes a Stalin? Was he a Tsarist agent or Lenin's bandit? Was he to blame for his wife's death? When did the killing start? Based on revelatory research, here is the thrilling story of how a charismatic cobbler's son became a student priest, romantic poet...

'Murder in the Gulag is brilliant journalistic writing: punchy, eloquent, page-turning and factual. It's a powerful reminder of what an extraordinary man Navalny was' - Roland Oliphant, Telegraph The gripping sequel to the bestselling Killer in the Kremlin, revised and updated for paperback...

Bestselling author Douglas Century reveals the untold story of the epic rise and fall of Boris Nayfeld, also known as Biba, one of the most notorious Russian mob bosses of our era. Boris Nayfeld, a.k.a. “Biba,” is the last living boss of the old-school Russian mob in America, and he’s...

"Russian Silhouette" is the memoir of Daniel M. Jaffe, a Jewish Princeton student who spends two summers in the oppressive, antisemitic USSR of the late 1970s. While there, he befriends Soviet Jews, refuseniks (Soviet Jews denied government permission to emigrate), and political dissidents who are living under constant government threat. The KGB surveils and arrests Daniel, warning him never to return. He returns anyway.

Winner of the Costa Biography Award What makes a Stalin? Was he a Tsarist agent or Lenin's bandit? Was he to blame for his wife's death? When did the killing start? Based on revelatory research, here is the thrilling story of how a charismatic cobbler's son became a student priest, romantic poet...

Seven Million Dollar Spy reveals, for the first time, the inside story of the dramatic US counterintelligence operation that resulted in the capture of the most dangerous mole working for Russia inside US intelligence. Now, the former senior KGB spy, to whom the US paid seven million dollars for Moscow's file on the mole, is identified by both his real and code names.

Winner of the Plutarch Award for Best Biography PEN Literary Award Finalist National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist New York Times Notable Book Washington Post Notable Book Boston Globe Best Book of the Year The award-winning author of Villa Air-Bel returns with a painstakingly researched...

'One of the great love stories of history, in a league with Napoleon and Josephine, and Antony and Cleopatra ... Excellent, with dazzling mastery of detail and literary flair' Economist It was history's most successful political partnership - as sensual and fiery as it was creative and visionary...

A James Beard Award-winning writer captures life under the Red socialist banner in this wildly inventive, tragicomic memoir of feasts, famines, and three generations Born in 1963, in an era of bread shortages, Anya grew up in a communal Moscow apartment where eighteen families...

"Russian history in the lives of its most important figures" - the classic work by prominent Russian historian, one of the founders of Russian historical thought Nikolai Kostomarov.

Steinbeck and Capa’s account of their journey through Cold War Russia is a classic piece of reportage and travel writing. Just after the Iron Curtain fell on Eastern Europe, Pulitzer Prize-winning author John Steinbeck and acclaimed war photographer Robert Capa ventured into the Soviet Union...

Their wings were weak, their talons broken…yet they flew the Soviets into winning the war against the Nazis. They were ignored, laughed at, and forced to do chores beneath their ranks. Why? They were the "weaker" gender. Despite being capable, they were initially denied entry into combat. And when they did enlist, their treatment only worsened: They were assigned worn-out uniforms and left to the mercy of rusted equipment on the battlefield. These adversities didn’t stop the Soviet female fighters from going ahead and showing unprecedented excellence in warfare.

Pavlov's dogs are to Psychology 101 what Rome is to antiquity classes. This particular series of experiments and the concept of classical conditioning likely ring a bell for many readers and listeners because they have been referenced in countless texts, both scientific and otherwise, and they have seeped into various forms of pop culture throughout the years.

Чтобы избежать тяжелых разочарований и ошибок в будущем, необходимо знать ошибки прошлого: знать правду вчерашнего дня. Когда Распутин черной тенью стоял около престола, негодовала вся Россия. Лучшие представители высшего духовенства поднимали свой голос на защиту церкви и Родины от посягательств этого преступного проходимца. Об удалении Распутина умоляли государя и императрицу лица, наиболее близкие царской семье. Все было безрезультатно.

Who is Alexei Navalny? Poisoned in August 2020 and transported to Germany for treatment, the politician returned to Russia in January 2021 in the full glare of the world media. His immediate detention at passport control set the stage for an explosive showdown with Vladimir Putin. But Navalny means very different things to different people. To some, he is a democratic hero. To others, he is betraying the Motherland. To others still, he is a dangerous nationalist. Navalny explores the many dimensions of his political life.