Russian Archive Diaries: A Blog
The following are observations by SRAS employees and clients while exploring Russian archives as part of SRAS’ Research Support Services. SRAS specializes in remote research…
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Book Review of Lavash at First Sight
Taleen Voskuni’s Lavash at First Sight (2024) is a funny and lighthearted sapphic romance about two Armenian-American women roped into promoting their respective Armenian food…
Book Review of The Empusium: A Health Resort Horror Story
The Empusium: A Health Resort Horror Story by Olga Tokarczuk, translated from Polish by Antonia Lloyd-Jones is an expertly woven folk horror story that grapples…
Book Review of Hard by a Great Forest
Hard by a Great Forest, by Leo Vardiashvili, is a wonderful, horrible book. The book is wonderful in that it presents believable, likeable characters who…
Book Review of The Politics of Culture in Soviet Azerbaijan, 1920-1940
Audrey, Altstadt. The Politics of Culture in Soviet Azerbaijan, 1920-1940. Routledge, London and New York, 2016. 234pp, $65pb. ISBN 9781138639003. “We are undertaking the…
10 Obscure Videos of Soviet Moscow from the British Pathé Archive
The organization British Pathé, a creator of newsreels of historical events, digitized their archive of 82,000 documentary videos and released it on YouTube. The 3,500…
Understanding Moscow through Literature, History, and Film
Fyodor Tyutchev once said that “Russia cannot be known by the mind” – but perhaps Moscow can be known through literature and historical surveys? A…
Recommended Books for Understanding Russia
The following books are those that have left a deep impression on me. They are books that I was driven to pick up and keep…
Book Review of The Right to be Helped: Deviance, Entitlement, and the Soviet Moral Order
Maria Cristina Galmarini-Kabala. The Right to be Helped: Deviance, Entitlement, and the Soviet Moral Order. DeKalb, IL: Northern Illinois University Press, 2016. 316 pp., $25.99…
Riga: A History in Districts
Riga, the capital city of Latvia, boasts a rich history and diverse architectural heritage. Among its many districts, Mežciems, Purvciems, Grīziņkalns, Centrs, and Vecrīga stand…
Book Review of Defining Latvia: Recent Explorations in History, Culture, & Politics.
Loader, Michael, Hearne, Siobhán, and Matthew Kott. Defining Latvia: Recent Explorations in History, Culture, & Politics. Central European University Press, Budapest, 2022. 364 pp., $9.99…
Latvia: A Case Study of Colonization and Independence
Latvia is a small country on the Baltic Sea coast. Although it has maintained a distinct language and culture for hundreds of years, it has…
Origins of Russia: Moscow Becomes an Empire (Prehistory to 1584)
Moscow is not just a city. It was a fort that became a city, that became a state, that became an empire, that became a…
Armenia: A Global People
The Modern Republic of Armenia lies in the turbulent south Caucuses. Although the Armenians as a people have existed for thousands of years, they have…
Armenia’s Foreign Policy and Security Issues for 2023
The most important issue in Armenia’s regional relations is the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Armenia is a landlocked country flanked by two historical adversaries, Turkey and Azerbaijan,…
Nagorno-Karabakh: The Volatile Core of the South Caucasus
The Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh is one of four frozen conflicts that emerged after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Legally recognized as a part of…
The Alykul Osmonov National Library of Kyrgyzstan
In 1934, the National Library of Kyrgyzstan was formed following the merging of the Frunze City Library and the Library of the Council of People’s…
Bayalinov Children’s Library in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
The current building housing the K. Bayalinov Library for Children and Youth was built in 1984. It’s located at Ogonbayeva Ataya, 242, near the National…
Kyrgyzstan: A GeoHistory Study Guide
Kyrgyzstan is a small, strikingly mountainous country near the center of the immense Eurasian landmass. Influences from diverse empires can be felt there today: Mongol,…
Georgia: A GeoHistory Study Guide
What Georgia might lack in size it makes up for in personality. Over the millennia, the nation we now call Georgia has been part of…