"The Book of Kin", the sixth book of the Series, describes another visit by the author to Anastasia's glade in the Siberian taiga and his conversations with his growing son, which cause him to take a new look at education, science, history, family and Nature. Through parables and revelatory dialogues and stories Anastasia then leads Vladimir Megre and the reader on a shocking re-discovery of the pages of humanity's real history that have been distorted or kept secret for thousands of years. This knowledge sheds light on the causes of war, oppression and violence in the modern world and guides us in preserving the wisdom of our ancestors and passing it over to future generations.

Hailed by Ingmar Bergman as "the most important director of our time," Andrey Tarkovsky here reveals the original inspirations for his extraordinary films

Four most significant works, also including "The Development of Capitalism in Russia"; "Imperialism, the Highest State of Capitalism"; "The State and Revolution".

Available in a 2-volume format, Nachalo is the most exciting text available for beginning Russian courses. Written by a respected team of Russian scholars and linguists, Nachalo presents grammar functionally and teaches students the four skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing within the context of a wealth of cultural information. The abundant practice material in Nachalo ranges from focused and controlled to open-ended and communicative. Nachalo features an on-going story set in Russia with a cast of Russian and American characters, exposing students to new vocabulary and structures in authentic situations. Most exciting of all, Nachalo includes the most extensive package of support materials for any beginning Russian text on the market, including a video tied specifically to the text, shot on location in Moscow. The Second Edition is even more powerful with a text-specific Website and an all new student CD-ROM.

Translated with an Introduction by David McDuff.

McGraw-Hill's Big Books not only include more verbs and a better selection than their competitors, but they also provide ample contextual examples that show you how the verbs are actually used. Features include:

555 fully conjugated verbs

Extensive examples illustrating basic meanings for the top 50 verbs

Verb exercises

Clear coverage of the unique aspects of the language's verbs

And more

Mikhail Bulgakov's devastating satire of Soviet life was written during the darkest period of Stalin's regime. Combining two distinct yet interwoven parts-one set in ancient Jerusalem, one in contemporary Moscow-the novel veers from moods of wild theatricality with violent storms, vampire attacks, and a Satanic ball; to such somber scenes as the meeting of Pilate and Yeshua, and the murder of Judas in the moonlit garden of Gethsemane; to the substanceless, circus-like reality of Moscow. Its central characters, Woland (Satan) and his retinue-including the vodka-drinking, black cat, Behemoth; the poet, Ivan Homeless; Pontius Pilate; and a writer known only as The Master, and his passionate companion, Margarita-exist in a world that blends fantasy and chilling realism, an artful collage of grostesqueries, dark comedy, and timeless ethical questions.

Although completed in 1940, The Master and Margarita was not published in Moscow until 1966, when the first part appeared in the magazine Moskva. It was an immediate and enduring success: Audiences responded with great enthusiasm to its expression of artistic and spiritual freedom. This new translation has been created from the complete and unabridged Russian texts.

The complete 8-year curriculum of Lenningrad's famed Vaganova Choreographic School, which trained Nureyev, Baryshnikov and Markova, including over 100 photographs. A volume which no teacher, scholar or student of the dance can afford to miss.

The Student Activities Manual is the main vehicle for student work outside of class. It allows the student to practice composition, grammar, vocabulary, phonetics and intonation, as well as containing exercises for the audio and video programs.

The War in Afghanistan (1979-1989) has been called "the Soviet Union's Vietnam War," a conflict that pitted Soviet regulars against a relentless, elusive, and ultimately unbeatable Afghan guerrilla force (the mujahideen). The hit-and-run bloodletting across the war's decade tallied more than 25,000 dead Soviet soldiers plus a great many more casualties and further demoralized a USSR on the verge of disintegration.

In The Soviet-Afghan War the Russian general staff takes a close critical look at the Soviet military's disappointing performance in that war in an effort to better understand what happened and why and what lessons should be taken from it. Lester Grau and Michael Gress's expert English translation of the general staff's study offers the very first publication in any language of this important and illuminating work.

Surprisingly, this was a study the general staff never intended to write, initially viewing the war in Afghanistan as a dismal aberration in Russian military history. The history of the 1990s has, of course, completely demolished that belief, as evidenced by the Russian Army's subsequent engagements with guerrilla forces in Chechnya, Azerbaijan, Tadjikistan, Turkmenistan, and elsewhere. As a result, Russian officers decided to take a much closer look at the Red Army's experiences in the Afghan War.

Their study presents the Russian view of how the war started, how it progressed, and how it ended; shows how a modern mechanized army organized and conducted a counter-guerrilla war; chronicles the major battles and operations; and provides valuable insights into Soviet tactics, strategy, doctrine, and organization across a wide array of military branches. The editors' incisive preface and commentary help contextualize the Russian view and alert the reader to blind spots in the general staff's thinking about the war.

This one-of-a-kind document provides a powerful case study on how yet another modern mechanized army imprudently relied upon the false promise of technology to defeat a determined guerrilla foe. The Red Army had fought their war to a military draw but that was not enough to stave off political defeat at home.

This book is part of the Modern War Studies series.