Russian Language & Literature
Русский язык и русская литература в Рид–колледже

Study Abroad & Immersion Language Study

Recommended Reading List

Practical Information

  • The Rough Guide to Moscow, Stephen Keeling (London, 2008).
    The Rough Guide to St. Pe­tersburg, by Dan Richardson (London, 2008).
    Both offer good advice, reliable historical summaries, maps, subway plans, descriptions of museum collections, neighborhoods.
  • Eloise M. Boyle and Genevra Gerhart, The Russian Context: The Culture behind the Language (Bloomington, IN: Slavica Publishers, 2002, CD-ROM disk).
  • Langenscheidt's Pocket Dictionary: Russian - English / English - Russian (2006)

General Histories

  • Geoffrey Hosking, Russia and the Russians: A History (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2001).
  • Robert Service, A History of Twentieth-Century Russia (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1998).

Cultural Histories

  • Orlando Figes, Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History of Russia (New York: Picador, 2003).
  • Catriona Kelly, Refining Russia: Advice Literature, Polite Culture, and Gender from Catherine to Yeltsin. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001).
  • Nicholas Rzhevsky, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Modern Russian Culture (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998).
  • Nancy Ries, Russian Talk: Cultural and Conversation during Perestroika. (Cornell University Press: Ithaca and London, 1997).
  • James A. Billington, The Icon and the Axe: An Interpretive History of Russian Culture (New York: Vintage Books, 1970).

Topical Histories

  • William C. Brumfield, A History of Russian Architecture, 2nd ed. (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2004)
    See also the University of Washington 'Brumfield Russian Architecture Collection'.
  • Theofanis George Stavrou, ed., Art and Culture in Nineteenth-Century Russia (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1983.
  • Camilla Grey, The Great Experiment: Russian Art, 1863-1922 (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1962).
  • Victor Terras, A History of Russian Literature (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1991).
  • Richard Taruskin, Defining Russia Musically (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997).
  • Looking West: Cultural Globalization and Russian Youth Culture (Post-Communist Cultural Studies). Editor: Hilary Pilkington (Pennsylvania State University Press, 2003).
  • Classic Russian Cooking: Elena Molokhovets' "A Gift to Young Housewives" (Indiana University Press, 1998).