"The everyday lives of Russians between the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 and the death of Josef Stalin in 1953 is the subject of Orlando Figes' illuminating and profoundly moving new book. Filled with the stories of hundreds of survivors, many of which make for desperately painful reading, The Whisperers offers the most thorough account so far of what it meant to live under Soviet totalitarianism."—Douglas Smith, The Seattle Times

“A concise and powerful overview of one of the twentieth century’s most influential people.”—Michael Lorah, Newsarama.com

"With a keen eye for telling detail, a concern for the choices of individual leaders, and careful judgments, Leffler generates a narrative that carries the reader along as it develops important new ideas. This landmark study transcends many of our standard arguments about the Cold War to focus on what it was really about. Driving much of the maneuvering for security and advantage was the struggle over which political system could meet people’s needs and produce a better society."—Robert Jervis, Columbia University

"Most empires, Longworth argues, rise and fall, never to rise again. But Russia has seen four major empires in the past nine centuries, each rising from the ashes of the other. Even in pre-history, the nation saw uncommonly large populations in civilized centers, such as the 6,000-year-old Talyanky site, which was home to more than 10,000 people . . . the command of the last empire . . . was meant to be absolute; when communism was pressed on the native Chukchi people of the farnorth, they resisted, reasonably, saying that it would not increase the number of walruses. Empire is a distant memory among younger Russians. But, as Longworth observes at the close of this useful survey, 'nothing is immutable,' and if history is a guide, Russia's empire will rise again."—Kirkus Reviews

"Here at last is a concise and clearly written account of what happened on both sides of the hill that provides excellent comparisons of equipment, leadership, doctrine, organization, and personnel."—The International History Review

This book examines the collapse of the Ottoman Empire which changed the lives of Slavs, Turks, Greeks, Arabs, and Armenians. For six centuries the Ottoman Empire united a diverse array of religious and ethnic groups, but its dissolution into distinct states left a tradition of nationalism and ethnic enmity in much of the Balkans and Middle East which directly links to crises in the region today.

"Melnyczuk is a master at sustaining intrigue; the waiting is delightfully agonizing rather than tedious. He writes so precisely about secrets and betrayals that a reader's desire for instant gratification seems like a cheap impulse worth letting go of . . . It's a beautiful novel and redemptive in its own way—even though, by the end, the protagonist is left bruised by life's harsh and undeniable truths"—Carmela Ciuraru, Los Angeles Times

"Ivan's War combines, quite effectively, painstaking historical reconstruction and sympathetic projection. Ms. Merridale, proceeding from campaign to campaign, describes from the top down and from the bottom up. She provides a coherent picture of the tactical decisions and industrial adjustments that altered the course of the war, and at the same time focuses on how such changes were reflected in the day-to-day experiences and feelings of the troops on the ground . . . She is unsparing in her account of the terror unleashed on German civilians, but scathing about the world to which the veterans returned."—William Grimes, The New York Times