Podcast Episodes
Back to SearchChristine Abely, "The Russia Sanctions: The Economic Response to Russia's Invasion of Ukraine" (Cambridge UP, 2024)
Episode 25
February 2024 will mark the tenth anniversary of Russia’s seizure of Ukrainian territory in Crimea and the Donbas and two years since its full-scale …
2 years, 9 months ago
Gary Saul Morson, "Wonder Confronts Certainty: Russian Writers on the Timeless Questions and Why Their Answers Matter" (Harvard UP, 2023)
Episode 199
Since the age of Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, and Chekhov, Russian literature has posed questions about good and evil, moral responsibility, and human freedo…
2 years, 9 months ago
Vladyslav Besedovskyy, "Uniforms and History of the Soviet Airborne in Afghanistan" (Safar, 2023)
Episode 214
The central focus of Vladyslav Besedovskyy's book Uniforms and History of the Soviet Airborne in Afghanistan (Safar, 2023) is a massive collection of…
2 years, 9 months ago
Jonathan Daly and Leonid Trofimov, "Seven Myths of the Russian Revolution" (Hackett, 2023)
Episode 257
"This fascinating volume is a major contribution to our understanding of the Russian Revolution, from World War I to consolidation of the Bolshevik r…
2 years, 9 months ago
Olena Stiazhkina, "Cecil the Lion Had to Die" (HURI, 2023)
Episode 30
In 1986 Soviet Ukraine, two boys and two girls are welcomed into the world in a Donetsk maternity ward. Following a Soviet tradition of naming things…
2 years, 9 months ago
Michael W. Doyle, "Cold Peace: Avoiding the New Cold War" (Liveright, 2023)
Episode 33
Michael W. Doyle's book Cold Peace: Avoiding the New Cold War (Liveright, 2023) offers an urgent examination of the world barreling toward a new Cold…
2 years, 9 months ago
Christian Raffensperger and Donald Ostrowski, "The Ruling Families of Rus: Clan, Family and Kingdom" (Reaktion Books, 2023)
Episode 29
In the current context, where Vladimir Putin justifies his war against Ukraine by insisting on an inevitable, unbroken teleology that binds Kyiv to M…
2 years, 9 months ago
Martin C. Dean, "Investigating Babyn Yar: Shadows from the Valley of Death" (Lexington Books, 2023)
Episode 204
Investigating Babyn Yar: Shadows from the Valley of Death (Lexington Books, 2023) pieces together the story of the destruction of Kyiv's Jews using h…
2 years, 9 months ago
Empires of the Steppes: A History of the Nomadic Tribes Who Shaped Civilisation
Episode 32
The “barbarian” nomads of the Eurasian steppes have played a decisive role in world history, but their achievements have gone largely unnoticed. Thes…
2 years, 9 months ago
Ian Probstein, trans., "Centuries Encircle Me with Fire: Selected Poems of Osip Mandelstam" (Academic Studies Press, 2022)
Episode 458
Osip Mandelstam (1891-1938) is widely regarded as one of the twentieth century's most influential poets. This collection, compiled, translated, and e…
2 years, 9 months ago