As someone who lived in Prague, I can say that this is the real thing. With enough tourist-y information to get newcomers started, The Rough Guide goes off the beaten path--offering tidbits of off-the-wall history and an insider's look at the city's best kept secrets. An added bonus--reviews of, honestly, the best restaurants, bars and clubs in the city--not a single tourist trap or cliche among them. A must read for visitors to the city!

Evans's book on Rudolf II and his court revived interest in the period. Evans shows how Rudolf assembled a court of humanist artists, poets, scientists and alchemists interested in using the correspondences between the microcosm (the human being) and the macrocosm (the universe) to bring about a new age of peace. For Evans, this moment of Mannerist culture was the end of the Renaissance; it represents the dream of a generation dissatisfied with the religious strife of the Reformation, and hoping that a mixture of what we would call science and mysticism could provide a new culture based on hierarchical spiritual education. Instead of a new age, it saw its hopes dashed by increasing religious intolerance and the devastation of the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648). Evans shows how Rudolf's court became a European center of learning; he attempts to illuminate the taciturn emperor's views on politics, religion, art, culture, science and magic by discussing the ideas of his associates. The books is extremely well written and includes an amazing amount of bibliographical information; it may prove a bit daunting for some readers, as some quotations from German, Italian, and Latin are not translated. There is a 1997 reprint with a short essay surveying more recent work in the field by Thames and Hudson

Gary Stewart's book is so very well researched. If you are not familiar with the Congolese Rumba, the material will not really interest you and be difficult if not impossible to read. If you are familiar with this remarkable music in any way, you will end up seeking out and acquiring as much of this music and record titles as you can afford. I must have bought about 150 CD titles of the artists mentioned in the book.Stewart's book puts these artists and their music in the context of a history previously unwritten about in the English language. The only other book that comes to mind is Graeme Ewens' "Congo Colossus", but that title is more confined to the history of Franco (Francois Luambo Makiadi) and Le T.P. OK Jazz.If there is a criticism, it is a small one. He leaves out Orchestra Super Mazemba and Samba Mapangala. Although those artists made their mark in Kenya, they were in fact major Rumba artists from the Congo. However, Mr. Stewart performed remarkable research not to mention a history book that moves like an impossible to put down novel.

General description
'Russia after the Cold War' is a detailed yet accessible overview of the modern day Russia in search for its new identity, and the social, economic and political dilemmas it faces in its pursuit.

Positive aspects
'Russia after the Cold War' has an excellent introductory chapter as a general background to the subject. The book covers a wide range of relevant issues ranging form from political culture and public opinion to Russia's relations with China and Japan, covering political, economic, social and cultural aspects of life in Soviet and present day Russia. The authors look into complex subjects and debates such models of transition and democratisation. The text is written by a number of distinguished academics in various fields discussed, such as Richard Sawka (on Russian nationalism and democratisation) and Mark Galeotti (on crime, corruption and the law). Each chapter is very well written and has a definite structure: 'Introduction' provides a good background, 'Conclusion' sums up ideas. Each chapter is full of facts, data, statistics, charts and tables, while good use of maps, boxes and bullet points illustrating ideas, reviewing main concepts and key personalities enhance its reader-friendliness. Although each chapter is written by a different author, it is easy for the reader to read on from one chapter to the next. The balance between issues discussed is impressive. Many viewpoints are put forward in a critical, yet objective way.

Negative aspects
While 'Russia after the Cold War' does a good job both describing and explaining events with a view from the top, and almost totally ignores a perspective from the bottom of the social ladder. More individual case studies could have been included - individuals, small enterprises. The book lacks illustrations, so a beginner in the subject (who the book is primarily intended for) may finish reading without being familiar with any of the faces in the life of Russia. The text also lacks a comparative perspective. Like many other texts in the field it needs to be updated more regularly to take into account more often to take into account recent developments in Russia and Former Soviet Union, such as Putin's presidency.

Conclusion
'Russia after the Cold War' is ideal for anybody interested in the subject of modern day Russia. While providing a comprehensive coverage of main issues and debates, it does so in accessible and lively style requiring no prior knowledge in the topic, though the text could benefit from more perspectives and illustrations.

I purchased this book and found it very useful to get the information I needed on this whole Russia-Chechnya issue. If you are doing a report on this subject or just want to become educated about it, I encourage and recommend that you purchase this book.

Robert English makes a compelling case for the utility of ideas in changing national policy, which one hopes might have relevence to the current international crisis. National identity, English maintains, is not immutable. He argues that intellectuals play a key role in creating new identities -- they are "storytellers" who can be agents of belief change even in countries "where the state controls discourse over history and politics, imposing an identity from above through its monopoly over education, the media, and scholarship." Taking on those on the right who embrace the idea that Reagan and SDI won the war as well as those on the left who don't believe containment had an effect, English offers a narrative that seems far more convincing. Ideas and intellectuals, he argues, matter.

Dr. Cichock's book is easily accessible to the layman and would also be a valuable addition to any professional political scientist's library. He gives the reader an introduction to comparative and international politics and an historical overview of the region in the book's first section. In the second section, he gives a thorough and insightful look into the Russian Federation's current political climate. His third and final section concludes with four case studies which examine in depth four Post-Soviet nation-states, which were carefully chosen to represent the general character of the regions in which they are located. Though Dr. Cichock seens to be a democratic idealist and free-market advocate, he never makes the mistake of recommending specific actions for Russia and the successor states. He never tries to play gypsy fortune-teller by forecasting probable events, either. His prose remains true to a detailed and thorough structural analysis of the political systems of the states in question. In his case studies, he shows reserve in using value judgements to convey his message and eschews complex tables of quantitative data. This displays his considerable skills of evaluating information synthetically as well as analytically. His work is well footnoted and draws heavily from authoritative primary source material and his selection of secondary sources is of the highest possible caliber. This book is also a truly enjoyable read for even the most casual of students of the Post-Soviet region. My only complaint would have to be that in weighing in at 281 pages, it is simply too short for me.

This work, which a collbararive project from many renouned authors, is a technical work about the history, ecomonics, and culture of Russia during the peristrioka and the early 1990's. This book was used in my Russian Culture class, and I could not think of a better piece to illustrate the philoshy and psychology of the Russian population during this time. This is a must for anyone wishing to understand the political and cultural backdrop of present Russia.

Tom Nichols book is a wonderfully challenging but comfortably readable analysis of the role of presidentialism in holding together Russia's fragile democracy. He provides enough background for capable but untutored readers like myself to understand his thesis, but never so much that you feel like you're in an introductory course. Read the footnotes. The long ones not only contribute to a lay reader's overall understanding of the subject, but on occasion are downright funny. A wonderful book.

Interesting insight into the leaders of Russia