One of the best coffee-table books on one of the most beloved and tragic families of this century. Several photos show Nicholas and Alexandra before the birth of their first child, Olga, until the house arrest of the family. With an accompanying text and several annonations, this poignant photo album/book show the lives of the Romanovs through carefully chosen pictures from the Russian archives. Leafing through the pages of the book will make one feel transported to a different era, the time of Imperial Russia. A must for Romanov memorabilia collectors and historians.

If you are a Romanov history buff, you MUST get this book. Photos that you won't see in other books, excerpts from personal letters, it's just a one-of-a-kind book. This book touched a place in me that actually hurt when I thought of the family and how they were killed. When you read the girls letters, see their drawings, you know they were sheltered, sweet, loving girls, whose last moments must have been horrific. alix and Nicky, not realizing the depths to which Imperial russia was falling, brought about their families demise, although they had been warned. Rasputin took total advantage of alix's grief, she only wanted her son to live. A beautiful and heartbreaking book. I own a library of Romanov/Imperial russia books, and this one is my favorite.

This is an astonishing book about the last Imperial Family of Russia. Crisp text backed up with amazing and wonderful array of exclusive, never-before seen photographs from the Russian State Archive. Truly, a book that will change your view on the Romanovs.
Highly recommended to those who build a library on the Romanovs.
Great job, Leppi Publications!!!

I my opinion, that is the one of the best book of Soviet Union, of paranoy that resim. Kapuœciñski is for me a poet and his book is poem... I agree with Pavel (the first review). In 1998 in Poland Kapuœciñski publised his last book "Heban", it's about Africa. He went there of vew years (was like a respondent)and he write of african paradoxs. It's very good book too. I hope that it will be translaiting on English soon. I'm glade too, that "Imperium" was good translated, it's very importent.

I consider myself a lifelong student of Russia and the former Soviet Union, having read and studied a huge number of books and reports on the subject. But Ryszard Kapuscinski's Imperium is superior to everything else I have read and imagined. He is a keen observer and a superb writer; he has traveled to cities and regions where even the most hardened Russian reporters didn't go. His prose is gripping and the translation is excellent. Reading this book is a rare pleasure. I recommend it very highly to all those who want to understand what Russia is and why the Russians are the way they are. They are very different from the rest of the world and Kapuscinski unravels the mystery better than any body else. Having studied Eastern Europe for more than 50 years I can say this with a great deal of confidence.

At first I have to say, that I really haven't read that book in english, so I don't know the english translation, only the original version of the book. I LOVED IT. I have always been intrested in history and I have always loved "fact literature", and this book is a comprehensive and colorful, tragic story of a tragic country. It turns us inside-out. We can hardly stop reading. And all the time we have a chance to admire Ryszard Kapuscinski's specific, beutiful and simple in it's structure - style. We see a picture of a country of misery.Country of pain and blood. But not only. Through the author's eyes, we watch the people,see their emotins, their life, their faith and power.Ryszard Kapuscinski,unequalled for many world's great journalist,master of reportage has written a beautiful book, which made me a huge fan of him. Imperium - especially recommended.

As a psychologist working in the field of drug addiction I am constantly dealing with misinformation and propaganda about the dangers (both relative and absolute) of various drugs. Parents who are concerned that their teenage children might be using "dangerous drugs" rather than just getting drunk on the weekends and smoking cigarettes, etc. This book is an outstanding source for historical information about the development of our attitudes towards drugs, the role they play in our society, a straightforward, non-technical presentation of the psychological and biological actions of various drugs, and the effects of our current drug policies. Coupled with "From Chocolate to Morphine" (another must read book) a reader will have a great fund a basic information about drugs and our relationship to them. I only wish this book would be updated and reprinted - though, unfortunately, not nearly enough has changed since this book was first published.

It's amazing how many of the "facts" that we think
we know about drugs are wrong. It's even more
amazing that we continue to base drug policy on
myths that were disproven as much as a hundred
years ago. It's amazing that we continue to
pursue prohibitionist drug policies that have
never withstood the scrutiny of objective
evaluation. Read this book. You'll be astonished.

Even though this book is nearly 30 years old, everything it says about the drug problem is still relevant today.

This publication outlined a clear-cut set of recommendations that if adhered to, today's drug problems would have become a long forgotten memory.

This book is a must for the collection.

I was first introdced to Solzhenitsyn's works when I was a freshman in high school, far too many years ago in a little town. The book was the Volume 1 of The Gulag Archipelago. It was really an eye-opener for me in so many ways, given that it was the first "really serious" book that I'd read.

I believe that Solzhenitsyn is the best writer of the 20th century, or at least he's the top writer I've read so far (and I've read a lot of books). Maybe that's influenced by my early exposure, but I don't think so; I find his works just as compelling now as I did then.

The First Circle is one of his most "accessible" works (that is, you can just jump in and start reading) and probably one of his best. A very compelling story; his portraits of the various vile creatures of the Soviet government have been shown to be quite accurate, and the way the various plots intertwine and are resolved is wonderful.

The First Circle gives great insight into a culture totally foreign to most US citizens, as the book's a mixture of spy novel, guide to life in a Gulag camp, and brief introduction to Soviet society of the 1950s. A depressing place to be sure, but fascinating. Well worth reading.

Another triumph by Solzenitsyn. A deeply humane book, in which the author weaves several tales around the central thread of a Soviet research establishment where the researchers are political prisoners. The stories in themselves are gripping, but what again holds the attention (as in the author's other works)is Solzhenitsyn's deeply profound portayal of the human cost of the repressive system, and how deeply it affected all of the citizens of the RSFSR, however exalted or mundane their place within that system. Particularly interesting were the depiction of Stalin and his relationships with his lackies, and the inner workings of Lubyanka Prison in central Moscow. The ending has a thought-provoking sting in the tale for us in the West. Recommended.

No other book will summarize so brilliantly the absurdity of a system in which the quest for the common good was just a trap for the independence and free will of each person. All the events during the novel take place in just one week. Nevertheless during that brief period the author manages to convey the dark existence for millions of citizens of the USSR during the whole Stalinst period, so the overall impression is that the novel drags on for years and years.

The narration of the story takes place in several different fronts which seem to connect at the end, but that never happens. Each character goes on with his life, and the reader is left to wonder what happened. Oddly enough this is part of the beauty of this novel and makes a lot of sense because Solzhenitzyn will stress until the end the lack of right for any person or system to deny a person of its individuality and abrogate for itself the power to guide other's destiny. Threfore, how could he do the same to the members of its novel? So he refuses to place a final point to their development.

To put it more briefly, just read it is a great book.

When Ken Burns's popular documentary series on the Civil War was shown on T.V. the Civil War diary of E.H. Rhodes who was aPrivate from Rhode Island was used various times to describe the attitude of "war fever" at the beginning of the war, to the boredom of camp life, to the fear and carnage of battle. Rhodes had an elegant yet easy prose when he wrote to his family his account of the Civil War. From Private at the beginning of the war, to promoting to the Officer rankings, E.H. Rhodes describes the mood of his mind, his fellow soldiers and the feelings of the Union. I really enjoyed his diary and also the information of what happened to him after the war, like being very active in the G.A.R. reunions. This man fought in almost every major battle of the war and his diary is a definte asset to the understanding of the Civil War. Highly Recommended to all Civil War Scholars and Enthusiasts.

Thank you Elisha Rhodes Hunt for drawing me into the inner circle of those who fight for right without malice and without pretention. Hunt suffered the mud, famine and blood of the battlefield, the boredom, stress and anxiety of waiting out winters and lulls in fighting, but wrote cheerfully, truthfully and insightfully about the spiritual and physical lessons learned during his four years of fighting for the Union. Surviving bullets, cannon shells, hand-to-hand combat, disease, heat and pompous generals bent on personal achievement, Hunt remained loyal to the Union cause and found inner peace exceeding the horrors of bitterness, rage and slaughter he endured. The details of the life of a solder in the civil war come alive in his diary entries and letters as battles lull or exhaustion prompts a short stopover. No one should mistake the source of Hunt's strength to endure. Every page speaks of spiritual victories, church meetings, revivals, prayer meetings attended by genrals and privates alike or personal pleas for God's mercy and strength for victory. Hunt's journal with editor Rhodes accurate footnotes and historical fillers left me impressed with Hunt's empassioned loyalty to God and country no matter the cost. The prhase "All for the Union," appears as a battle cry and word of encouragement during the darkest moments, yet show how a right and just perspective can motivate.

The diary and letters of Elisha Hunt Rhoades is very aptly named "All for the Union," as that is the way that he lived his life. Rhoades was with the Union army from the beginning of the war to the end, and he fought in almost every one of the major battles. Throughout this book, I laughed, I cried, and I now feel that I really know what a Civil War soldier's life was like. The only problem with the book is putting it down! Rhoades' personal integrity and commitment to his country make this book a definite winner!!!

Having been a space program buff since my childhood, I've been drawn by books like Martin Caidin's Marooned, Stephen Baxter's Voyage, and even political writer Allen Drury's The Throne of Saturn (that one dates me, I realize). Red Moon caught my attention while I was browsing Amazon, and after only a few pages I was pleased to see I had spent my money very, very well.

Simply, this is an amazing book. Unlike a lot of books that try to achieve a cinematic effect by cutting quickly between scenes and situations, Michaels' book, with its full chapters and fully realized sequences paints clear heartfelt scenes more effectively than most of today's films. His characters of astronaut Janet Luckman, planetary geologist Milo Jefferson, and central character, Cosmonaut Grigor Belinsky are living and breathing people with needs and flaws and conflicts. People I thought about long after I had finished Red Moon.

The premise is that a lunar mission set during the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing discovers the Soviet craft Luna 15, launched days before Apollo 11 but landing at nearly the same time, was not an unmanned probe, but in fact a last-ditch attempt to land a man on the Moon before the Americans. As an adolescent in 1969, I followed the flight of Apollo 11 completely entranced, and the looming presence of Luna 15 was felt deeply by me. I had wondered about the intentions of the mysterious craft, and it is fascinating to me to see this captured the imagination of this writer as well.

This is a huge book, not only in size, but scope, and Michaels pulls it off admirably, even more so considering this is his first novel. He takes us along three parallel storylines, two set in 2019 -- one on a lunar landing mission marking the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11's landing, the second in the upper echelons of NASA -- and one set in the Soviet Union of 1968-69. The first Macguffin of the story, finding rare Helium 3 on the Moon, is the same as Homer Hickam's disappointing Back to the Moon, but is handled far more dramatically, and is in turn upstaged by the quest for finding the answer to the mystery surrounding Luna 15 and Grigor Belinsky, her pilot. Michaels skillfully plays the three storylines off of each other, teasing and rewarding us, involving us deeply into these people's lives. There are moments of great passion and feeling in this story, so much so it brought me to tears no less than three times.

I genuinely wished the book had been longer, and if there is a sequel I'll be the first to snatch it up. Red Moon is simply a wonderful read. I recommend it highly.

Red Moon is an exceptional thriller as well as a novel of speculative fiction. It is actually three interwoven and inter-related stories all tied to the US-Soviet Space Race. The insights into the history of what happened and why it happened back in the sixties would be worth the price of admission alone-- but Dave Michaels has gone far beyond that to craft a gripping, page-turning novel about a future moon expedition and how the discovery of water on the moon will affect life on earth. I am not a huge fan of science fiction novels that are "the black and white hat fighting for territory in the sky" type. I prefer novels of more characterological depth that leave me with something to think about and have a real emotional impact as well. Red Moon is a great novel because it accomplishes just that. There are characters we really care about from Belinsky the tragic Russian cosmonaut to Janet Luckman an American Astronaut stranded on the moon with someone who is trying to murder her (and she has no idea who on her team it could be). This is a book to warm the heart, fascinate the mind and feed the soul. I can hardly recommend it enough for a first novel.

RED MOON is an exceptional novel of speculative fiction. The author has done a tremendous job in intertwining three related plots to generate an oeuvre of hefty proportions and considerable creativity. And it is such a pleasure to read a book that is written for the reader, not in anticipation of a screenplay.

RED MOON not only uses the backdrop of the US-USSR space race as one point of departure, but also creates tension through the ongoing philosophical differences that remain between the two nations. The historical references to the program of the late 1960's are insightful, accurate and compelling. The plots are uncompromisingly driven by a "what-if?" factor that is added by speculations that the world was not aware of certain flights and missions by the Soviets. Revealing these cover-ups and conspiracies through the future lunar exploration timelines is a remarkably effective literary device, well handled by the author.

The characters of astronaut Janet Luckman, planetary geologist Milo Jefferson, and central character, Cosmonaut Grigor Belinsky are well drawn and believable. The future setting of lunar exploration in search of Helium-3 is portrayed admirably, and the historical elements incorporated are enlightening and without extraneous embellishment.

A gripping and passionate tale that is sure to please. Highly Recommended.

This is the first and only book that speaks to the soul. From the dozens of people who have read it upon my recommendation, many agree (they all loved it, by the way). It is the first book that felt like I was talking to myself! Here, the author knows what it is like to be me. You will develop a rapport like nothing else ever experienced. Such is the power and grace of Mary Magdalena! By the way, she was not the prostitute she has been label by the Church Fathers! You will either love this book (and just can't put it down) or you will hate it and be unable to read it at all. Those are the only reactions I had people experience. So, if you can wait to get your hands on a copy, you are right! ------ COPYRIGHT 1997 Nathan Ray Stephenso

If you are a seeker of truth, buy this book now!

It will speak directly to your soul like no book you have ever read. Since reading this book I have been blessed to have several conversations with the author. I believe in this book; it is truth.

Honor yourself and read this book. You will be changed. It will shift you into the world you "gave up" when you "grew up".

Feel free to write me for more recommendations in the same light as this one. I will be happy to answer your questions and share the blessing I have received.
Peace

YES. And it will enjoy this book tremendously, taking you along to a heightened level of perception. If you feel this is the time for you to read such writing,stop waiting. If not, may you remember this recommendation at the appropriate moment.

Khrushchev: The Man and His Era is a big, engaging book about a political giant, and author William Taubman has skillfully painted his life on a large historical canvas. Khrushchev emerges in vivid, engaging prose as an intriguing and commanding historical figure whose life affords us an insider's view of the inner workings and evolution of the Soviet political system, from its founding to its demise. MJS TU

When I got done reading this wonderful book, I felt as if I had been at Khrushchev's side throughout his entire life. The book goes into great detail about this man. In addition, it uncovers and debunks some of the myths of Khrushchev. For example, Taubmam debunks the myth that when the decision was made to place missiles in Cuba, it was a decision that the entire Soviet leadership embraced 100%. However, Taubman points out (and proves) that it was Khrushchev that was really the only big driving force behind the idea. I could go into a plethora of other details like that, but that would ruin the fun of the book. In my college class, we were discussing the Cuban Missile Crisis, a student asked how the Soviets were reacting behind the scenes and what lead to their decision. The Prof (a Ph.D holder of over 25 years)really wasn't sure the details of the nuclear standoff on the Soviet side. However, after finishing Taubman's book a couple of days before, I was able to explain exactly what happened. After that, the Prof asked me to stay after class and asked me to Xerox the Cuban Missile Crisis part of the book so he could know what really happened! If a person is interested in the Soviet Union, Khrushchev himself, or the "behind the scenes" of the Soviet Iron Curtain during the Cuban Missile Crisis, pick up this book. It will be a great learning experience .

Professor Taubman has written the difinitive work on Khrushchev for years to come. From his work as a child in the Ukraine to his death in 1971, Khrushchev has been given his due credit in this book. Taubman has done well including every important event and decision throughout Khrushchev's life. His work in the Ukraine as party boss and then as political commissar for the Red Army, his consolidation of power and the destalinization campaign that many will remember him by are all here. As a student of Soviet history, I can say that Taubman's book is a great resource to anyone, no matter what level of knowledge on the subject.

"We can always find another widow for Lenin." So threatened Stalin to Lenin's real widow Krupskaya, whom he hated. So absolute was the Communist Party's hold on all aspects of public life in Russia in Stalin's reign, that famous people, who had been praised to the skies just the week before, could be utterly effaced from the public's mind through sheer terror. Once someone fell from favor with the dictator, his name and picture were erased from the public record--even books critical of the person could be proscribed--and to even mention his name might mean prison or worse. This book is the author's attempt to trace the trail of falsification through Stalin-era photos and artworks.

It is a testament to the censor's thoroughness that the trail is quite incomplete. In many cases, the author hasn't been able to find even the name of the extirpated individual in the before-and-after photos. Some of the examples given here were taken from the folio albums of the Soviet photographer Rodchenko. After the bureaucrats he had photographed were arrested and shot, he went to work inking and scissoring out his own work, the images of the new non-persons.

The heroic photomontages, with the jut-jawed Bolsheviks vanguarding the masses, are appalling when you think of how many would later be arrested, tortured into accusing themselves of the most heinous, yet baseless, crimes, and then shot. The damned were airbrushed out of the picture, replaced with a stripped-in comrade, or a painted-in pillar or staircase, sometimes leaving a shoe or elbow that the retoucher missed. The Western mind shudders at the slavish worship that Stalin had at his command, to cause such colossal lies to be perpetuated. Read this big, lavishly illustrated book, and get the real picture.

There is a secret inside this book. Inside is a collage showing about 200 people. These people were instrumental in getting Russia's October Revolution off the ground. Stalin is not one of these people. Therefore, to maintain the myth that Stalin and Lenin were the "Two Leaders" of the Revolution, Stalin had to kill off three quarters of the people on the collage because they "knew too much." And the great purges are what the rest of the book is about.

Stalin, more than anyone else in history, has altered the past to serve the present. His censors have visibly altered old photographs in order to remove the latest denounced "traitor to the working class" (or whatever) from old group photographs. With the old Soviet archives now open to the public and ex-Soviet citizens now free to view the unaltered archives in the West, we can see today how extensive this process was.

Trotsky, his chief opponent, was systematically removed from thousands of photographs -- those where he stood next to Lenin. With Trotsky gone, the 'Trotskyists' (however Commrade Stalin defined them) were next. The group photos had to be cropped in order to cover up the dwindling number of Revolutionary heroes. The comparison between the 'before' and 'after' pictures is chilling reminder of the immense suffering that Stalin caused to people who were as dedicated to the same ideals as he was -- but not as ruthless.

What would it take to make Hell on earth seem real to you? This profoundly disturbing book had that effect for me.

It might be possible to view this book as humorous. Mr. King's years of patient scholarship have unearthed unmarred originals of photographs that he presents with little or no comment next to what are frequently crudely butchered falsifications of those who fell out of favor with Stalin. Particularly in the age of computer photomanipulation, the alterations are initially comical to twenty-first century eyes.

As one works through the book, however, the comic effect is obliterated by mute evidence of the sheer numbers of people who were expunged year after year from the historical record. Particularly frightening are the official portraits self-censored by relatives of the now-deceased in hopes of forestalling the same fate.

Although not strictly a falsification, of particular interest to me was a picture of the document officially expelling Leon Trotsky from the Communist Party, complete with angry annotations in the margin by Comrade Trotsky himself.

I'd like to believe that the very existence of this book and its photographic record, despite the Soviet attempt of many years to rewrite history, proves that no regime can stifle all unflattering facts about itself for all time. But then I wonder in how many cases, about how many people, they might have been successful. By all means, read this book. Be a witness. Remember the dead. But be warned. The stuff of this history is indeed the stuff of nightmares.

This is an extremely fascinating and well-written book. It tells the story of not just the horrible massacre of Jews and other "undesireables" by the Nazis in WWII occupied Kyiv, but also of life in Kyiv under Nazi occupation. Equally fascinating is the account of Babyn Yar (its Ukrainian name) long AFTER the Germans had been pushed out. It is the personal, first-hand account of the author who is a 12-year old boy at the time of the German entrance into Kyiv. One correction to a previous review here - according to the editions I have seen of this book, the author is not Jewish, but half-Ukrainian and half-Russian. This is of minor importance other than for those who might be inclined to reject this book as "Jewish Propoganda". It is a very honest work, portraying everyone involved as all-too-human; sharing all characteristics from the noble to the obscence.

I have been looking for a copy of "Babi Yar" by Anatoly Kuznetsov for several years. I'm not sure this is the same book, but the fact that both books describe the occupation of Kiev during World War II from the eyes of a 12-year-old, including the horrible massacre of Jews and Ukrainians at Babi Yar, lead me to believe that this might be a rewrite of my copy of "Babi Yar" I have been unable to find in circulation. In my copy, printed by Dell in 1966, the protagonist is not Jewish, but Ukrainian-Russian, although many of his friends at the time were Jewish as were many of the survivors the author interviewed after the war whose stories were included in the documentary. Having lived in Kiev for five years in the early 90s, Babi Yar is not only a book of the atrocities that took place in Ukraine during the war, but a glimpse at the survival skills by ordinary Kievites during the occupation. In this way, it chronicles the plight of all citizens of Nazi occupation, not just those of the Jewish residents of this wonderful city. It also describes the way in which the Nazis rounded up young Ukrainians for shipment to farms and factories in Germany, which is the prelude to the stories of thousands of Ukrainians, many of whom returned home after the war and became Soviet citizens I met in Kiev fifty years later. But many of these young Ukrainains who found themselves in the West upon the German defeat immigrated all over the world, comprising the Ukrainian diaspora, who also returned to Kiev after independence to help build this new nation. If anyone knows whether these are the same stories or if the original has been rewritten and expanded, please post this information at this site. In any event, it is unfortunate that both copies of this book are out-of-print because the story of the citizens of Kiev and the atrocities of Babi Yar need to be told.

This is an important book which I hope will be put back in print soon. The story of the Ukrainian occupation during WWII, as well as Babi Yar death camp are fascinating, if also horrifying. The book covers a theatre of the war that is seldom covered in such detail.

The honesty is the most interesting part. The author, a 12-year-old boy at the time, (and NOT Jewish), had no reason to fabricate, and with an innocence that makes it clear he isn't trying to propogandize, just reports the horrors he sees. The book also includes some later gathered (when the author was grown up) interviews with survivors of Babi Yar death camp which are even more harrowing.

The most fascinating part of the copy that I have is that it BOLDs the portions of the book that were edited out by the Russian censors, before the book was published in the Soviet Union. It is interesting to notice what the censors chose to cut out, as much as what they chose to leave in!

Well worth finding in a used book store, if you can.