Do I recall incorrectly or were quotes from this book used in chicago at the democratic convention to re-elect Clinton? Regardless of your political offiliations or your personal feelings about this President,Clintons record is 'His record' and it's layed out for you about his first four years, in this book. This is a useful tool for our children and their schools. The report format makes the process and Clintons accomplishments easier to understand. This is also a useful tool for our new americans learning the process. Buy this and pass it on to a young person.

Quite excellent view of the late-Soviet reality through the eyes of one Russian industrial town. Very engaging narrative. Highly recommended, along with the venerable classic THE RUSSIANS by Hedrick Smith. In fact I would recommend this book before I would recommend's Hedrick Smith's follow up book THE NEW RUSSIANS, in all honesty. STEELTOWN, USSR is truer in spirit and kinship to the earlier Smith book...THE NEW RUSSIANS focuses a little too much on Gorbachev to the exclusion of the wider picture. This book gives an effective glimpse of that wider picture thru an effective microcosm...a must read for any student of Russian history.

I didn't know Chekov was considered a master of the short story until I read Janet Malcolm's pieces about him in The New Yorker. So I started with this book, which contains some of his earliest stories. Each story is amazing and in them you can see him progressing into his own unique style. This is a great book to start with if you're reading Chekov for the first time.

There are three novelettes here. The first is about a German who comes to stay with her teenage Petersburg penfriend, the second about a pet Polar Bear and the last about a shipwrecked boy.

The text is up-to-date and not patronising with the minimum of footnotes.

Critically speaking the stories are genuinely weird especially the true one about a polar bear who thinks he's human and who lives in a tower block. Apparently it was also made into a documentary.

If you can't find a suitable reader, then this will suffice and should take you a couple of weeks to progress through. However the varied language used shows you how Russian verbs are used in context, and thus the book will last you a long time as a grammar reference. There are also short annotated Russian stories for learners in the weekly English version of 'Moscow Today'. Check this out too.

Although I haven't yet finished this novel, I'm so pleased with the story that I wanted to say something about it. The pleasant surprise for me about this book is that it has turned out (so far) to be better than I thought it would be. Ms. Crane really is a storyteller with a gift for elegantly stating the details from a society now long gone. The story is set in Russia, from 1908-1921, and has all of the delicious little details that make escapist reading so much fun. It is the story of Victor & Varya Shalakov, and their three daughters, and one son, as they move from Moscow to St. Petersburg, so that Victor may pursue a fortuitous business opportunity. Victor is a hard-edged man, and a bit oppressive to his two eldest daughters, denying his eldest, an accomplished violinist, the opportunity extended to her to play with a great symphony orchestra. His second eldest daughter he grudgingly half-believes is a product of an adulterous union between his wife and a handsome officer of the guard. Victor knows this to not be true, but is still cruel-spirited to the girl because her mere presence reminds him of when he lost his temper one afternoon and forcibly coupled with his wife out of anger, which resulted in this daughter he shows such utter contempt for. Theresa's characters come to life. If you enjoy historical novels please read this one.

I highly recommend this book. It's very thorough and informative.

This book is wonderful! The pictures are gorgeous! This book is great for kids and adults of all ages and makes a wonderful book for storytellers!

This book really shook my foundations concerning the Eruropean Community and it's way of setting a person inside the E.C.'s borders. The author truly knows his case in this matter and I'm extremely happy and satisfyed that he has been willing to share his knowledge, studies and visions with us ordinary people. I simply want to thank the author for this book.

Sergei Dovlatov is one of my top 3 writers. When you read one of his books, you feel as though you as conversing with Sergei. The text flows freely and easily. Dovlatov has the uncanny ability to capture life in the former Soviet Union, displaying not only it's absurdness, but the humor in that absurdness.

This book is a series of short stories. Each chapter is based an item in the suitcase he brought when he came to the US. The book is funny, as is all of his work, well written and poignant. I have read this book many times and on each occassion, I laugh and shake my head with amazement.

It is truly a shame that Dovlatov died so young (49).

D.M. Thomas, author of the acclaimed White Hotel and Flying into Love here turns his attention to the tense, serious world of international politics, and compleatly makes a mockery of it.

The book centers on the Summits held in the 1980's between the leaders of the USSR and the USA, who are thinly veiled characatures of Reagan and Gorbrechev. The novel has little positive to say about either of them, and generaly terrifies the reader who thinks that all summits run as this one does.

Thomas's book is insightful, readable, and absolutly laugh out loud funny. It is quite possible, in fact, that this is the funniest book I have ever read. It is short, you can read it in one sitting, and you will have a fantastic time doing it. I highly sugest you read this book.