Vladimir Brovkin's brilliant work "Russia After Lenin: Politics, Culture & Society 1921-1929" clearly demonstrates that the propaganda claims made by the Bolsheviks were largely incongruous with the views held by a majority of Russians. The author demonstrates that Communist ideas were resisted most strongly by those whom the party was purported to be serving-the proletariat. Brovkin further shows that contrary to revisionist histories, Communism was established in Russia following a military coup led by the mearest fraction of society. Brovkin argues that Stalin's campaign of terrordeveloped directly from Lenin's notion of constant revolution and that this policy of terror was adopted in order to perpetuate the Communist Party's monopoly on political power. Brovkin's work is a must read for those who wish to gain a better understanding of how the Bolsheviks consolidated and maintained their dictatorial authority. "Russia After Lenin" is an outstanding book on politics and history that should be considered equal to the monumental books by Richard Pipes.

There is nothing better than this work in English. If you are interested in the history of Russian chant or want to know what old russian chant was (to the best of our knowledge), and you don't read Russian, there is nothing better or more comprehensive for you. You can safely buy this book, knowing that there is nothing better for you in the English language.

When asking any experts to recommend books on Eastern Orthodox Church music, this scholarly volume by Johann von Gardner will invariably be among the first titles mentioned. This English translation, done by Vladimir Morosan, was published by St. Vladimir's Seminary Press in 1980.

The author states at the outset of his preface: "The present work is intended as an aid to those who feel the necessity of gaining deeper understanding of the liturgical singing of the Russian Orthodox Church, not only in its present-day practical forms, but also in its theoretical essence and thousand year history."

While von Gardner accomplishes his goal with clarity and scholarly precision, it serves and an excellent introduction to the music of all Eastern Orthodox Churches, including the Greek, and the Arab-based Antiochian Orthodox Church (of which I am a relatively new member). In discussing the establishment of Orthodox Christianity on American and Western European soil the translator states in his preface, "...the parishes established by the Church of Russia have naturally preserved the choral tradition of the Mother-Church, and even parishes from Greek or Syrian traditions of monodic chant have in some instances adopted Russian choral singing under the influence of the prevailing choral milieu of the West."

It cannot be stressed enough, as is stated on the back-cover summary, "the music of the Orthodox Church cannot be understood in purely aesthetic categories, apart from the liturgical context which determines both its content and its function." That's really what this book is all about, how the music and liturgy are inseparable.

Although I have many years of experience directing choirs and leading worship services in Protestant Churches, I discovered that as I began tackling the job of directing our Orthodox parish choir (on a part-time basis), that it was like learning a new language. This book goes a long way toward helping the reader become familiar with that new language, but one can only learn to "speak it" by full immersion in the services of the Orthodox Church.

Below are the titles for each of the four chapters:
The System of Orthodox Liturgical Singing: Concepts and Terminology
The Liturgical System of the Orthodox Church
The System of Russian Liturgical Singing
Periodization of Russian Liturgical Singing

I would definitely agree with those who recommended this book to me, it is an excellent introduction, however if you have no first-hand experience with Orthodox liturgies, I would think that much of this book would be an academic exercise.

At times, the reader may feel overwhelmed with too much information, or with unfamiliar terminology, but for someone like me who wants to get to the heart of this glorious worship experience, it's worth the effort.

"Russian Icons" by Vladimir Ivanov is an excellent summary, chronologically arranged, of the history of Russian Icons. Not only is it well illustrated, it gives a nice overview of the history of Russian icons. What impressed me the most about this book was its lovely photographs of the icons. They capture the spirit of the paintings. They are also high-quality photographs, not blurred or smudged. It is a work which is both useful to a stranger to the subject and an expert.

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Reprinted from SlaveFile Slavic Languages Division American Translators Association Summer 1998, Vol. 8, # 3 (Publisher's note: "Russian words had to be transliterated")

Russian-English Automotive Dictionary

Reviewed by Lydia Stone American Translators Association

SLD member Vladimir Kotchine has sent us his dictionary for review, and although I have informed him that I do not work in regularly in this subject (some might even say I am not qualified to drive) he has agreed to my reviewing it. It is a well-bound soft cover volume on good paper with double columns and excellent readability resulting from moderately large print and sufficient spaces between entries. I have seen no typos, and in any but my own writing, these usually jump up off the page and strike my eyes. Kotchine takes a kind of "Kuznetsov" approach to the dictionary, by which I mean that the main defined unit is the multiword noun term, e.g., "kontrol'naya lampa stoyanochnogo tormoza", alphabetized according to head noun (in this case "lampa"). Some nouns, especially very specific one are defined (e.g., "rastvorovoz" = mortar carrying truck) alone without subentries and a small number of adjective ("zamaslennyi (o svechakh) = oiled, fouled)" listed as independent entries and a somewhat larger number of verbs listed either alone "zalegat' = bottom; stick; freeze)"; with sub-entries ("zamenyat': gil'zu = reline, resleeve; dvigatel' re-engine, re-motor, etc. or as verbal phrases ("zamedlyat' dvizhenie vklyucheniem ponizhayuschei peredachi" = gear down). Context (for example "akk - storage battery") is given in some cases. This seems to be an eminently reasonable approach to the subject matter. General filler material is virtually absent. Coverage seems to me to be remarkably extensive with ca. 120 entries under "klapan" more than 80 under the subentry "porshnevoe kol'tso" alone. Entries cover types of vehicles (including antiques and even some terms pertaining to horses) as well as parts and styles of vehicles, and even driving operations. Citations of a randomly selected entry of appropriate length in full gives an idea of the range and completeness of the definitions. udar ì: v stseplenii (pri soskal;zyvanii nogi s pedali) slamming in the clutch obratnyi (zavodnoj rukoyatki) return shock; crank knock obratnyi (pri zapuske) flashback; kickback; backfire pri pereklyuchenii peredach shifting shock

Although I have never had an assignment heavily involving automobile terminology, I was more than delighted to accept the author's kind offer to keep the volume. I am sure that, to paraphrase a famous review, that if I ever come to need such a thing, Kotchine's dictionary will be exactly the thing I need. I would conjecture that translators working in this or allied fields would find the book invaluable.

This book is an absolute must for the aspiring classical guitarist. The pictures of Segovia's hand positions are the best for learning , period. I have this book open at all times when practicing so i can watch his hands vs. watching my hands in a mirror. The Segovia Technique is in my opinion the only way to make classical guitar tones that please every and all ears. I also recommend The Art of Classical Guitar Playing. By Charles Duncan.

Although this book was widely reviewed, I did not see any review in which the essential drama of Chaloff's life was reflected. Of course, the focus of the book is on his music and legacy but while his importance as a premier jazz baritone saxophonist seems beyond question, the Chaloff story also involves fascinating and ultimately inspiring swings of lifestyle: youthful enthusiasm and breathtaking development as a musician; a phase as "out-of-control junkie" eventually transcended and followed by impressive artistic rebirth; then his tragic illness and early death as he heroically continued playing at his peak to the end. Potential readers might like to know this dramatic story is in there along with the documentation of his musical legacy and career.

Social Fuzziology explores the fuzziness inherent in what we know about ourselves and society, about the sources and nature of our experience, of our thoughts and feelings, drives for understanding and urges to create and realise our potential. This kind of fuzziness is at the very essence of human existence, therefore it affects any field of people's activity, be it engineering design of intelligent systems or social inquiry into enigmas of life. The book draws on the full range of the social sciences, including some of the most up-to-date work on escalating complexities of post modern life, e.g. new information technologies in the global world, new forms of consciousness and identity, new relationships between humans, machines, nature and environment. The volume is interdisciplinary, combining expertise from fuzzy logic and the postmodern social sciences to outline, synthesise and implement the challenging concepts and methods of Social Fuzziology. It gives readers from the social sciences a comprehensive, exciting and practical guide for applying the insights and approaches of fuzziology, while bringing a rich body of social problems and concepts to the agenda for researchers in fuzzy logic and related fields.