This book was written by a man who suffered unspeakable crimes under Stalin's reign of Communist terror. His insights and often ironic humor are insightful and very interesting. A must-read for those interested in Russian history and the history of Communism and how it affected (and still affects) those in its grip.

This book is great for tumor registrars. The illustations make wonderful tools for determining the extent of disease. Deciding which lymph nodes are regional and which are distant can be tricky, but not when you have this handy book at your fingertips!

"Loosely translated, Yasnaya Polyana means 'clear meadow' or 'clear glade,' but to say it out loud, Yas Na Ya, rhythmic and lulling, is to begin to understand the gentle sense of it as a cocoon, as a place which offered protection, guarded innocence, and a world of childhood games which created Tolstoy's moral framework." (from the Preface).
Yasnaya Polyana (2,000 acres of land situated between Kursk and Moscow) is where Tolstoy lived and wrote, and as such, it is the environment which inspired some of the greatest literature the world has ever seen. If you share my opinion that Tolstoy was far and away the greatest writer of all time (in ANY language), well, then you will undoubtedly benefit from this book by Patricia Chute. It is so well done, the author carried out extensive research at the Tolstoy State Museum, personally visited Yasnaya Polyana twice, and interviewed Tolstoy's grandaughter Mme. Vera Tolstoy, just to mention a few of her modes of inquiry. The result is this wonderful panoramic survey that reads like a novel and is not intimidating in size. In fact, for those who do not have the time to get through Henri Troyat's superb "three-course-meal" biography of Tolstoy, I recommend this book by Chute as the perfect alternative. Perfect. Bite-size in comparison.
I am very impressed with the photographs (both in amount and selection) that find their way into this book. I've read so many books about Leo Tolstoy but have never seen even half of the photos that can be seen here.
This book will not disappoint. Let this Table Of Contents whet your appetite:
1. A Splendid Orphan and the Golden Age of Yasnaya Polyana (1828-1852)
2. Soldier, Teacher, and a Terrifying Happiness (1852-1862)
3. War and Peace (1862-1869)
4. Anna Karenina and A Confession (1869-1880)
5. A Soul Divided (1880-1890)
6. A Taste For Public Action (1890-1901)
7. Flight (1901-1910)
Epilogue: Yasnaya Polyana after Leo Tolstoy.

Reading this book took my enjoyment and understanding of War and Peace to another level. I am greatly pleased with the authors perceptiveness, simplicity and revealing insights into the novel. His profound understanding of Tolstoys methods and ideas has added to my pleasure when thinking about the book, and I can now see quite clearly why it is the great novel it is, why people are so overwhelmed when reading it and why it appeals to the human spirit so. I strongly urge you to read this superb criticism, and heartily thank the author for contributing so much to my enjoyment of Tolstoys great novel. I do not put forth a summary of this book for fear of diluting the authors original and clearly explained ideas.

"Every happy family is alike, but every unhappy family is unhappy in their own way". So begins a Russian work of fiction that has been a classic and reminder of human experience. Leo Tolstoy wrote poignant, classic masterpieces of Russian ouevre. Anna Karenina was drawn form Tolstoy's own personal experiences with love and he comments not only on the society of his age, but on the quality of human emotion, suffering and frailty. Anna Karenina is not his best work, "War and Peace" is. But Anna strikes a modern chord and is exceptional.

Anthony Thorlby's version is still Tolstoy's, but he adds commentary that is suited for our modern social structure. Anna Karenina is herself a symbol of repressed womanhood, a product of her male-dominated society, a modern woman at heart, ahead of her time. She is married to a wealthy and influential man, but loves the dashing, handsome officer Lensky. She engages in adultery and even has his child. The tempestuous love affair is wrecked with guilt, pain, torture and exquisite tragedy. In contrast, there is the innocent, loving and simplistic romance between Kitty and her lover (who is actually a parody of Tolstoy).

Set in Imperial 19th century Russia, around the time of the Crimean War, the novel takes us to that society, becoming Westernized, full of rich culture but decaying in morals and crumbling from its center due to the fact that humans are fallible, that we cannot be conditioned to do other than our natural selves. Anna Karenina, as we all know from our college days, killed herself under a train, ending the pain that had been brewing as a romantic storm since she first met her destiny with Lensky. The moving tale is worth reading and recognizing as a masterpiece of Russian literature.

Excellent! Tells the history of the Guatemalan trade union movement duringthree decades of violent repression. Gives the basic facts of the struggle,through successes and failures, as well as stories by surviving members onhow they dealt with the death threats, the disappearances and the killings of their friends and collegues. An inspiration to unionists and others fighting for basic human dignity and human rights anywhere in the world.

Martin Kulldorf

This book is extremely timely. It addresses central issues facing trade unions at the workplace, taking a contrast between manufacturing, privatised utilities and the public services. It opens up key debates about the future of unions in major capitalist countries. The author insists that any understanding of trade unionism today must take the workplace as a starting place. It is here workers experience the contradictions of international restructuring and local imperatives. The book raises these issues in a sharp and focused way and should be read by commentators and trade unionsists around the world.

I BEGAN READING THIS BOOK TWO DAYS AGO. SO FAR I HAVE HAVE GOTTEN THROUGH HALF OF IT. THIS BOOK IS VERY INTERESTING AND KEEPS YOUR WANTING TO KNOW MORE. IT FEEDS THE HUNGER FOR KNOWLEDGE THAT AT LEAST I CRAVE. SO IF YOUR INTO HISTORY AND YOU WANT SOMETHING TO FEED YOUR BRAIN THIS BOOK IS A MUST.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME.

As a lover of music and theatre I was thoroughly engrossed in this astonishing feat of family 'portraiture' of three people dedicated to their art. Although I had not previously known anything about this particular theatrical dynasty, many of the other names, plays and operas were not unfamiliar to me and I was fascinated to discover how they were connected to each other. Stanislavsky, Meyerhold and Chekhov are household names in the theatre world, but it is always enriching to learn something new about them. And because our opera and theatre traditions in the West developed separately, it is interesting to see how closely allied they were in Russia and then see how the Russian tradition in turn influenced ours. As for the Komissarzhevskys themselves, I was carried along with their joys, hopes and disappointments. I only wish I'd been alive at the time to be able to sit in a darkened auditorium and witness their genius, whether it be singing, acting or directing.

The author has obviously consulted and collected a great deal of material in the writing of this book. He gives the reader a balanced view by the many wonderful reviews, both 'good' and 'bad'(and sometimes funny), of the various performances. The excellent quality of the photographs helps to bring these people and their work to life, re-creating the atmosphere of the age.

One of the most critical questions about the history of the USSR (and the history of the 20th century) is whether Stalinism arose inexorably out of the October Revolution or not. Generalizing from history, does Marxism lead inevitably to totalitarianism? The author's argument that the Left Opposition surrounding the revolutionary leader Leon Trotsky embodied a Marxist alternative to Stalinism and had a wide degree of support in the USSR and around the world provides a key to an understanding of the outcome of the Russian Revolution and the political problems of our time.