During the Cold War era, the songs that Soviet citizens could listen to were ruthlessly controlled by the state. Through interviews and oral testimonies, "Bone Music" tells the story of bootleggers who cleverly cut forbidden jazz, rock, and Russian songs onto x-ray film, defying censors, preserving music, and ingeniously resisting a repressive...

After witnessing the 2004 Beslan siege, Tom Parfitt embarked on a 1,000‑mile walk across the North Caucasus – from the Black Sea to the Caspian – through villages, forests, mountains and borderlands. “High Caucasus” is a quietly probing journey through trauma, history, and connection with the people and places of the North Caucasus republics. On...

A cultural portrait of eastern Ukraine, revealing its rich history beyond conflict. Victoria Donovan travels from Bilokuzmynivka to Mariupol, from abandoned mines to warehouse raves, amplifying local voices – artists, workers, and young people – showing the lived reality, resilience, and remarkable creativity of a region often overshadowed by wa...

Alexander Pushkin is celebrated not only as Russia’s greatest poet but also as a brilliant letter writer. His letters, in Russian and French, reveal him as a man, as a writer, and as a figure in his society. Expertly translated by J. Thomas Shaw with notes and introduction, this landmark volume serves as an encyclopedia of Pushkin and his worl...

When the USSR collapsed in 1991, David Junk became the first CEO of Universal Music Russia, striving to bring Western pop to a new audience. “Rockin’ the Kremlin” traces his journey through gangster capitalism, oligarch intrigue and piracy to develop a modern music industry: a story of cultural bridges, superstar acts, local talent – and its fat...

This timely book charts the metamorphosis of Russian media and culture since the year 2000. Eliot Borenstein examines Putin’s rise through culture: the crushing of independent media, the cult of personality, patriotism and nostalgia, imagining the future, absurdism and opposition, and improvisations as culture responds to political developments....

In “The Alienation Effect”, Hatherley traces how Central European émigrés, fleeing 1930s fascism, transformed Britain’s 20th‑century culture. Artists, architects and thinkers carried continental modernism into a grey, conservative island, and influenced architecture, design, publishing and cityscapes – shaping the Britain that we know today. B...

During the Cold War, ten million books were secretly smuggled across the Iron Curtain to fight a war of ideas. George Minden’s CIA ‘book programme’ infiltrated banned titles across borders, aiming to quietly turn readers into dissidents. Charlie English tells this astonishing story of spycraft, courage and the enduring power of the printed word....

Siberia, a fairy-tale land, drew Fritz Dörries on his first expedition in 1877, when much of it was still largely unmapped. Alone or with his brothers, he bravely faced bears, tigers, bandits, ice, and storms, exploring mountains, rivers, islands, and lakes, collecting vital knowledge of fauna and flora over twenty-two long, adventurous years....

"Simon Franklin, Rebecca Reich and Emma Widdis provide a multifaceted account of the 'contested space' of Russian literature that is up-to-the-minute both chronologically and theoretically - an account no current student of the subject can do without, and no future historian can ignore" - Boris Dralyuk, Times Literary Supplement This is the esse...

“The Sound of Utopia” vividly depicts the lives of Soviet composers and musicians navigating the demands and dangers of creating art under Stalin. Krielaars examines how they balanced artistic ambition with political pressures, revealing the compromises, challenges and creativity that shaped their art – and painting a portrait of music under f...

Three textile roads weave through Central Asia: the Silk Road linking East and West, the Wool Road enabling nomads to brave harsh winters, and the Cotton Road, marked by greed and environmental disaster. In “Unravelling the Silk Road”, Chris Aslan unravels this history, blending human stories, trade, and his fifteen years of living in the region...

An evocative journey through the Carpathians, Europe’s last true wilderness. Nick Thorpe explores its vast forests, meadows, and ancient villages, uncovering the people, wildlife, and the history of the region. From the Danube to Transylvania, he traces centuries of refuge, identity, and the ongoing struggle to protect this fragile landscape. ...