Although price prohibitive, this is a good work for engineers getting introduced to plasmas and their industrial applications.

Professor Diment's book moves from biography to literary intrigue quickly and delightfully. The intrigue itself, of course, has been out in the open for quite a while---that Pnin, the stodgy and stumbling professor, was inspired by one of Vladimir Nabokov's colleagues at Cornell, Marc Szeftel.

There's plenty of material on that in the book, but the real treat are the stories on university politics, the strange and shimmering links between art and the "real", the compassionate sketches of very odd characters (including Szeftel himself, as well as Nabokov's first biographer, a Kinbote-like figure), and some seriously funny endnotes. _Pnin_ ends triumphantly, and so does Diment's _Pniniad_, with the reader discovering the life-story of a man who would otherwise be an interesting side-note---what the reader gets is a sort of roman a clef written on the margins of fiction.

Littauer describes the priveleged life of a Russian cavalry officer in the years immediately preceding the Revolution of 1917. He offers a series of vignettes starting with his days in officers training school. His military duties are interspersed by balls in glittering surroundings, drinking parties in the best clubs of Moscow and Petersburg, and even an impromptu meeting or two with the Tsar. The First World War, with its extended privations, intrudes upon and eventually destroys this idyllic existence. Littauer finally loses not just his life as a hussar, but his place in Russia itself, when the Bolsheviks defeat the White Russian army for which he fights. But he never loses his humor and, apparently, never became bitter about the destruction of a life which he clearly loved.

This is a charming, wonderful book which allows the reader to know, from the inside, a life of privilege and tradition that none of us will be able to experience firsthand. Littauer's affection for the cavalry and for the Russia of his youth are strongly felt, yet never marred by sentimentality or exaggeration. It is a shame that this fascinating work has gone out of print.

The Russian Revolution by John M. Dunn not only investigates the Revolution of 1917, but it also discusses major events and personalities that led to and resulted from the Revolution. The book is filled with close to one hundred illustrations and dozens of excerpts from first-hand accounts written by those whose lives were affected by the incidents that transpired between the early 1800's and mid 1900's. Dunn does not examine every minute detail of the period since a book would have to be a multiple-volume set to be the primary source on the many subjects mentioned. For this reason, I found the book to be informative, yet extremely easy to read and comprehend.

The first half of the book lets us know what life was like under the Romanov dynasty in Russia. As peasants and citizens became more restless, Tsar Nicholas began making some changes, but they were not enough. The impressionable ideas of Karl Mark and Friedrich Engels had already reached many future revolutionaries in Russia. Chapter Three leads us into the Revolution of 1905, with the infamous "Bloody Sunday," and it ends with Nicholas' attempt to quell the insurrection by allowing the establishment of the congress-like Duma. The only thing that turns attention away from the dissatisfaction with the Tsar is the outbreak of World War I. This is avoided only temporarily. The discontent arises again because of the continuing problems and Rasputin, the so-called "Mad Monk." All this and more contribute to the February Revolution of 1917, that influences Tsar Nicholas' abdication of his throne and the setting up of the Provisional Government.

The Provisional Government is desperately trying to organize and control the country as the second half of the book begins. Amid the confusion, Lenin and other Bolshevik leaders return from exile and take the final steps to be, as Lenin said in June, 1917, ". . . ready at any moment to take over the government." The next chapter goes into ample detail regarding the circumstances surrounding the Bolshevik overthrow of the Provisional Government in October, 1917. The Bolsheviks quickly seized power of Russia, but not without major opposition. The "Whites" were many resistant groups that combined together with the single goal of defeating the "Red" Bolsheviks. The Russian civil war raged on from the spring of 1918 to the fall of 1920, and left behind death and destruction throughout the country. This death and destruction would continue with Lenin in charge, and eventually worsen under Stalin. Lenin and the Communist forces were victorious, but the rebuilding of a nation in shambles would never be complete.

The book ends with a brief mention of the dismantling of the Soviet Union in 1991. John Dunn suggests that the ideals of freedom and democracy that fueled the revolution(s) may be forthcoming, but, "Whether the nations of the former Soviet Union will be able to fulfill the dreams of the early revolutionaries and build a nation that represents all of its people remains an unanswered question."

The Russian Revolution by John M. Dunn summarizes the major events before, during, and after the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. The book is not overflowing with every detail regarding military strike after military strike, diplomatic task after diplomatic task, etc. It is a very informative and magnificent survey of the history of the Soviet Union between 1825 and 1935. The illustrations and quotations bring life to a subject that many students and people find rather dull. For these reasons, I would recommend this book to anyone with even the smallest interest in Soviet history, or history in general. The book is not too long, so reading it does not seem like an impossible task.

I loved the pictures. They are vivid. I loved them because I know some family stories about what I saw in these pictures. I really want to save the book for the pictures.

Just finished reading it. Lots of fun, although the author's obsession with Russian obscenities is at times annoying...

This book is listed in the bibliography of Bread and Puppet's book "Landscape and Desire", and since I am a maskmaker and a huge fan of Bread and Puppet I bought it. I did find it interesting to see how these Russian festivals may have influenced Bread and Puppet's work. What this book is, however, is a huge compendium of original material concerning street festivals in Soviet Russia from 1918 to 1933. It contains hundreds of photos and paintings on the subject, and gathers together what seems to be every single relevant report from Soviet books, magazines, newspapers, archives, organizational notes, festival plans, etc etc. The book also includes five essays which help point out some patterns and trends in this huge mass of material. However, the book does not attempt to give any more background, historical, political, or artistic, than is necessary to put its subject into a very basic context. I believe this book was meant as reference and research material, and as such it made for some exceedingly dry reading. I gave the book the rating that I did because it does what it sets out to do thoroughly and well. How useful a reader finds it, however, will depend on what they need from it. For original source material concerning Soviet street fairs it is a treasure. An in depth historical, political, or artistic analysis it is not, nor does it try to be.

This is a great book! My 7-year old daughter checked it out from her school library. It was easy for me to "get into the part" while I was reading it. I got so animated that my daughter had me read it to her over and over. She and I both laughed. I would recommend this to anyone.

I read this book when I had my military training. I must admit that it really gave me much fun and I found fantastic items in those not so famous Nabokov novels such as Mary that I had not seen before. But to most expertised Nabokovians it provides less information than it should have.