El Lissitzky: Beyond the Abstract Cabinet: Photography, Design, Collaboration

Book Description

Even after the fall of the Iron Curtain, Russia remains a nation shrouded in mystery. The country's modern aesthetic includes vestiges of its past that combine and collide with its present, reflected in such unusual imagery as an ornate palace which now houses a hip-hop rehearsal studio, and the stained-glass windows of a church that immortalize the icons of the proletariat. Photographer Andrew Moore explores Russia's majestic beauty and paralyzing decay with striking honesty, often finding them in the same frame. Russia: Beyond Utopia is an intricate hybrid of modern Russia'sunresolved past and uncertain present, revealing a country on the cusp of a new era.

Customer Reviews:

Pure pleasure.......2006-03-11

This is one of the rare books that gave me pure pleasure. Andrew Moore's pictures of Russia are not to be just looked at but contemplated. Returning to them one discovers each time something more about their beauty and the story they tell. Andrew Moore makes us see things our eyes would never have seen if we had visited those same places. The editor is also to be congratulated for the great quality of the book.

Russia Beyond Utopia.......2006-02-24

I was disappointed when I looked through this book. I am not sure what I was expecting. I might have kept the book if I had understood more of the pictures. I have been to Russia 3 times and I guess I saw more things that I would have included in this book. Russia is far from a utopia and to not picture the every day tourist scenes is perfectly fine, but I guess I would have wanted more explanations. The picture quality however was very good.

A Fascinating Mix of Images of Modern Russia.......2005-12-21

What a delightful collection of photos from modern Russia. What particularly lured me into buying this book was first, a fascination for Russia, for life in its newly changed government, and because this book shows two sides of the country, both the decadent imperialist past and the new, modern Russia. What stikes me most in these photos is the incongruency in the every day elements of life, the mix of building materials that were no doubt selected for their functional rather than selected for any artistic merit, and how it all blends together to create a certain 'look' to the country.

Some photos that caught my eye include a derailed line of boxcars shot at the port of Okha, a side-car motorcycle posing in front of a boxy two-story apartment building near the sea of Okhotsk, and a well manicured dining area at the Ukrania Sanitorium, color coordinated in white, light blue and red, illuminated both by natural light and a lit chandelier. Most of the photos are populated with people, some showing both the residents and their environs, and other photos focusing more on the land and structures of the country itself.

The range of the 120 plates leaves me with such a visually mixed reaction to the country, from its vastness, to its natural beauty, with a touch of gloom.

I am very pleased that I bought this book.

Where Rivers And Mountains Sing: Sound, Music, And Nomadism in Tuva And Beyond

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Listening with New Ears
Informative but tedious

Where Rivers And Mountains Sing: Sound, Music, And Nomadism in Tuva And Beyond
Theodore Craig Levin , and Valentina Suzukei
Manufacturer: Indiana University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0253347157

Book Description

Where Rivers and Mountains Sing takes readers on a journey through the rich sonic world of inner Asia, where the elemental energies of wind, water, and echo, the ubiquitous presence of birds and animals, and the legendary feats of heroes have inspired a remarkable art and technology of sound-making among nomadic pastoralists. For inner Asian pastoralists, sound and music form part of a spiritual relationship with the natural environment that has endured in the face of formidable social and political challenges. As performers from Tuva and other parts of inner Asia have responded to the growing worldwide popularity of their music, Levin follows them to the West, describing their soul-searching efforts to nourish global connections while preserving the power and poignancy of their music tradition. Includes a combination video DVD and music CD to acquaint readers with the musicians and their music.

Customer Reviews:

Listening with New Ears.......2006-12-27

The ethnographer author of The Hundred Thousand Fools of God, who took us on a musical journey to Uzbekistan, truly enters new sonic territory with this account of traditional and developing Tuvan musical arts, including his fostering (as executive producer) of the group Huun-Huur-Tu. More than associating the various forms of throat singing with ambient environmental sounds, Tuvan music is based on timbre, not pitch, on relative intervals, not absolutes. Such a radical alteration of musical perspective requires new ways of listening, and here Levin helps us with a most interesting and well-written book and CD and, on the flip side of the disk, DVD. Instead of a deadly tedious textbook with some artificial, meaningless taxonomy and pages of scores, we are presented with a fascinating, lucid exploration that made me re-listen to my collection of Tuvan and Manchurian music with more appreciation and understanding. This book expanded my mind.

Informative but tedious.......2006-06-18

The DVD/CD that accompanies this book is outstaning, even though about half of the DVD's content is comprised of scenes of ambient noise from rivers, drives along California freeways and the like, there are tremendous performances of Tuvan vocal and instrumental music.

The book is highly informative, but too frequently reads like a scholarly treatise, following questionably relevant tangents at the expense of the core subject matter. Levin has admirably dedicated his professional life to bringing Central Asian music to the attention of Westerners, but his work suffers because he is more of a professor than an author. When Levin sticks to Tuva, Tuvans and Tuvan music, a lot of light is shed, but the portions of the book on mimesis, mimicry and immitation, ammong others, remind me too much of my university musicology days where I'd have to struggle in inventing something, ANYTHING, to fill up the pages on that term paper. Parts of the book unfortunately read like that and go beyond the scope of what I wanted to know about Central Asian music. Nonetheless, between those gaps lies everything I wanted to know about the music, so in that sense, the book was worthwhile.

Holy Fools in Byzantium and Beyond (Oxford Studies in Byzantium)

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Holy Fools in Byzantium and Beyond (Oxford Studies in Byzantium)
Sergey A. Ivanov
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0199272514

Book Description

There are saints in Orthodox Christian culture who overturn the conventional concept of sainthood. Their conduct may be unruly and salacious, they may blaspheme and even kill - yet, mysteriously, those around them treat them with even more reverence. Such saints are called 'holy fools'. In this pioneering study Sergey A. Ivanov examines the phenomenon of holy foolery from a cultural standpoint. He identifies its prerequisites and its development in religious thought, and traces the emergence of the first hagiographic texts describing these paradoxical saints. He describes the beginnings of holy foolery in Egyptian monasteries of the fifth century, followed by its high point in the cities of Byzantium, with an eventual decline in the twelfth to fourteenth centuries. He also compares the important Russian tradition of holy fools, which in some form has survived to this day.

Secrets of the Russian Chess Masters: Beyond the Basics, Volume 2

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Chess 2
Vol 1 and 2 -Both Excellent
One of Alburt's best .
Fantastic book. Teaches chess the right way.

Secrets of the Russian Chess Masters: Beyond the Basics, Volume 2
Lev Alburt , and Larry Parr
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0393324516

Book Description

Increase your skill and understanding of chess with the tactics that have produced unparalleled Russian grandmasters.

Russia's dominance in modern chess was founded on a uniquely successful program of chess instruction. Now this program has been streamlined and adapted for American readers in a pair of books that will help readers develop, step by step, from total novicehood to an enjoyable and competitive recreational level.

Volume 2 goes beyond the basics to cover advanced strategy, hard-hitting openings, and classic attack and defense tactics. Both books sharpen and test your chess skills with practical, educational "chessercizes" that make your movements more muscular.

Advance in the game—and have fun doing it—using the techniques that produced a long line of Soviet champions.

Customer Reviews:

Chess 2.......2006-11-10

This is a very good book on chess that goes beyond the basics of the game. It is a "must read" for chess enthusiasts.

Vol 1 and 2 -Both Excellent.......2005-07-28

I really like the way Lev Alburt and Larry Parr have written these Volumes of the " Secrets of the Russian Chess Masters". I think reading Volume 1 is a must for beginners if you want to get the most out of Volume 2. I had no problem going from Volume 1 to Volume 2. Volume 2 (about the first 100 pages) starts mainly with more detailed Tactics and many helpful Diagrams. There are up to 3 diagrams on one page with the answers & explanations on the opposite page or just below the diagrams, no searching for answers. The last half of the book is mainly about Openings. There about 20 openings he explains and many have an accompanying Master Games ( Reti, Fischer, Tal ) which are easy to follow. I also like that he gives some specific Opening recommendations. Thus, this book explains Advanced Tactics and will prepare you for a more advanced Opening Book. Lev also gives a list of all the Chess Champions starting 1745(A.Philidor) to 1997(G.Kasparov). The book is 231 pages including a nice Index.

One of Alburt's best ........2005-05-19

This book teaches you elements of tactics. There are a lot of puzzles to solve and they are quiet challenging. The book is not for beginners, so take a note of that. Seems that most of the examples in this book were used to create Alburt's "300 most important positions" published later.

Fantastic book. Teaches chess the right way........1999-09-23

It's probably the quickest way to learn chess, and the right way to do it. Very pleasing to read and full of "Chessercizes" that help you test your understanding of the presented material. This volume enhances your knowledge of the game not through boring opening memorization but through tactics and tactical devices that can be applied to any game at anytime. won't believe how it will improve your game and playing style as well as your appreciation for the fine art of chess.

Empire and Odyssey: The Brynners in Far East Russia and Beyond

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yul brynner biography
Amazing Family Saga
True History that is more amazing the best fiction !!
150 Years of Solitude... from Russia

Empire and Odyssey: The Brynners in Far East Russia and Beyond
Rock Brynner
Manufacturer: Steerforth
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1586421026
Release Date: 2006-04-04

Book Description

For millions of his fans, there is only one Yul Brynner, the most mysterious and exotic star in Hollywood history. But in fact four men were given that same name in successive generations, beginning with Yul’s Swiss-born grandfather, Jules, and ending with his son born in New York, Yul Jr., better known as author and historian Rock Brynner. Their lives compose a global odyssey that has come full circle in present-day Vladivostok in Far East Russia, the city built by Jules in the 1880s, where Yul and his father, Boris Julievitch, were born, and which Rock first visited on a lecture tour sponsored by the U.S. State Department.

This is a vast family epic, teeming with exotic adventures, that begins aboard a pirate ship bound for Shanghai; like the fiction of Michener or Clavell, this true story is closely interwoven with history. Within twenty years of his arrival, Jules was the leading industrialist in the Far East, and the empire he created involved tiger hunters, Asian emperors, and most significantly, Tsar Nicholas II; it is revealed here exactly how their business association – and the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway to Vladivostok – triggered the Russo—Japanese War that ended three centuries of Romanov autocracy. Under Lenin’s government, Boris was the only mine owner to regain control of his vast operation; but his personal dramas in China, Manchuria, and North Korea rivaled the ordeals of Dr. Zhivago. With the Russian diaspora, Yul’s childhood took him from Vladivostok to China and then to France, where, as a teenager, he performed in nightclubs with Russian Gypsies while becoming a trapeze acrobat in the circus. He moved to America before he spoke English and within five years was starring on Broadway; ten years later he received the Academy Award for The King and I. Yul’s only son, Rock, has been a European street clown and a Broadway star, road manager for The Band and bodyguard for Muhammad Ali, as well as a novelist and historian. His numerous visits to Vladivostok, along with his research, have earned him an enduring place in its social history.

Customer Reviews:

yul brynner biography.......2006-11-10

Fantastic story of the Brynner family. The pictures themselves are quite an interesting aspect of the book. I gave this book to my mother-in-law for her birthday, as her favorite movie is "The King & I".

Amazing Family Saga.......2006-10-12

Rock Brynner proves himself to be a very capable historian and writer. To put this together was an amazing labor of love. Not only is the text riveting, the photographs are wonderful, and there are a lot of them.

The book's title clearly fits. The Bryners build an empire and travel widely. The book describes both across 4 generations.

This family was certainly where the action was over these generations: shipping, mining, and entertainment. (Now, Rock appears to be a free lance academic, similarly, a reflection of our times.) A fascinating timber deal may have been the precipitating element in a Russo-Japanese War, a war which sewed further disconent with the Tzar and spurred his downfall.

In this book we get glimpse of the founding of a Russian city, how a clever hardworking immigrant could make a fortune and how tenuous that fortune could be. We see how events in Moscow and St. Petersburg affected people across many time zones and countries.

The mobility of the early generations is interesting. They easily move from Hong Kong to Japan, to Russia, to China and back again. These foreigners found not only businesses, but cities in these places. The paperwork seems to be mininal to nonexistent. After the revolution, leaving was problematic (but solved). Later generations circumnavigate the globe, but citizenship is a mobility issue.

Due to her own personal heartache, Yul's mother moves and these moves keep Yul one step ahead of political upheaval. Living with his mother, he was exposed arts at home and in Paris. His uncle provided a stable father figure. Had the divorce not occurred, would his father's influence have prevailed and would he have been a businessman or have been purged along the way? Were it not for his eventual fame, this particular book, this amazing story, would never have been told.

Rock points out how art immitates life (or is it the other way?) through the irony of his sister singing Madame Butterfly which is a parallel story to her grandfather's. He shows the themes of "leaving behind" (otrecheniye) and returning to place through the generations. I love how he refers to Yul's status as a faux monarch, and how the real ones relate to him.

This is a wonderful book. In reading it you see the impact of history on people's lives. You learn more about Yul Brynner (didn't know he did so much directing, spoke so many languages, knew mobsters) and the interesting life of Rock.

True History that is more amazing the best fiction !!.......2006-07-05

Rock Brynner's biographical history of his amazing family has to be one of the most exciting non-fiction books this year. This is not a tale that could have been told in a magazine article (unless it had filled the entire magazine) ! Yet this reads as swiftly as a really compelling article in Vanity Fair magazine. It is like Dr. Zhivago, Around The World In Eighty Days, and Horatio Alger all rolled into one, starring Yul Brynner no less, with equally superb supporting roles played by his own father, grandfather, and heroic scapegrace son. Heroic in the last case, because the latest Brynner is a first-rate historian who gives the reader a beautiful historical sketch of the fascinating but little-known part of the world that has been called 'Russia's Wild East.'

The actual story of all the members of this family is as, or more astounding than anything Yul Brynner performed on the screen, which is saying quite a lot. When the story moves to Yul and Rock it is peppered with new cameos of many of the most intriguing people of our times. As for Yul himself, his Superstar status is not in the least bit diminished by all this elaborate detail - it only becomes more awesome. Hollywood usually glamorizes it's subjects but Yul was that amazing exception, the real thing ! One also discovers that it was not such a stretch for him to play an unusually admirable King, or Pharoah since he had a good assist from his own life and from his own DNA. His immediate forebears also all looked as if they had stepped off movie screens, were natural leaders, and lived very thrilling, demanding lives. It is a something of a miracle that they all survived the swirl of major historic events that they did live through.

The biographical and historic material by Rock is beautifully researched, well balanced, and described with bright wit and economy of phrase. Yul and the ancestors would be truly proud !

150 Years of Solitude... from Russia.......2006-04-27

Empire and Odyssey, by Rock Brynner, is a most delightful read of non-fiction. To tell the most extraordinary story of his family, starting with his great-grandfather, Jules, Mr. Brynner has masterfully woven in the last 150 years of Russian history. His eye-opening observations are clearly the product of a facile and scholarly mind, but the reader is unaware of this richness thanks to the author's obvious talent for storytelling. The book hits the ground running with Jules sailing aboard a pirate vessel to find his way to Shanghai, where he lays the foundation for a trading company. By way of Japan, he is one of the founders of the city of Vladivostok, and there he deals with Tsar Nicholas II, who determines to build a railroad from St Petersburg, to this Wild East seaport town. The author uncovers the reasons for the resulting war with Japan, that ultimately precipitated the Bolshevik Revolution. His grandfather Boris struggles to outwit the Soviet beauracracy, for the Brynner Empire, and for his family's survival.
The Brynner patriarchs' remarkable love lives counterpoint the politics and industry, as they surround themselves with beautiful, strong, intelligent women, who fight for what they want, alongside their husbands, or without them.
By the time the story focuses on Mr. Brynner's famous father, Yul (after Jules), the reader is treated to anecdotes of Mikhail Chekhov, Jean Cocteau, Cecil B. DeMille, Rogers and Hammerstein, Marlene Dietrich, Frank Sinatra, and other titans of 20th century show business, providing unique and candid insight into the nature of celebrity.
The author finally turns the lens on himself, and the weight his family's legacy has had on his own life, which is no less remarkable. Bartending for the Rat Pack, chauffeuring Sam Giancana, bodyguarding Mahummed Ali, road managing The Band, and poignantly returning, on invitation as the Brynner scion, to Vladivostok, wearing his father's cowboy boots from The Magnificent Seven.
Empire and Odyssey proves that fact is more fantastic than fiction. Fast paced and entertaining, I recommend it to anyone. It left me wanting more. I hope Mr. Brynner will return to extract additional exquisite ore from this mother lode.

A History of Russia, the Soviet Union, and Beyond (with InfoTrac )

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A History of Russia, the Soviet Union, and Beyond

A History of Russia, the Soviet Union, and Beyond (with InfoTrac )
David MacKenzie , and Michael W. Curran
Manufacturer: Wadsworth Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0534586988

Book Description

In this revision of their best-selling book, MacKenzie and Curran present a clear and objective account of the history of Russians and other eastern Slavs from its beginnings in ancient Rus to the demise of the Soviet Union and, most recently, the Putin presidency. Acclaimed in the field for its clarity, comprehensiveness, and accuracy, the text balances social/cultural history with political history. The authors' approach weaves the external geographic determinism of the Eurasian school and the organic, inner-oriented approach of Russian historians.

Customer Reviews:

A History of Russia, the Soviet Union, and Beyond.......2005-10-03

This is a required textbook for a Russian History class I am taking and so far the book is a better read than I expected.

Beyond Memory: The Crimean Tatars' Deportation and Return (Anthropology, History and the Critical Imagination)

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Details of Another Russian Tragedy

Beyond Memory: The Crimean Tatars' Deportation and Return (Anthropology, History and the Critical Imagination)
Greta Lynn Uehling
Manufacturer: Palgrave Macmillan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1403962650
Release Date: 2004-11-11

Book Description

In the final days of World War II, Stalin ordered the deportation of the entire Crimean Tatar population, nearly 200,000 people. Beyond Memory offers the first ethnographic exploration of this event, as well as the 50 year movement for repatriation. Many of the Crimean Tatars have returned in a process that involves squatting on vacant land and self-immolation. Uehling asks how they became willing to die for their national collectivity. She provides a fine-grained analysis of how "memories," sentiments, and dreams of a homeland never seen came to be shared. Uehling suggests the second-generation has a surprisingly instrumental role to play. The way children correct and intervene in parental narratives, dissidents challenge interrogators, and speakers borrow and trade lines index this social aspect of memory.

Customer Reviews:

Details of Another Russian Tragedy .......2005-07-09

The actions of states against their own people or sub-cultures within their own or conquered country has been the cause of more deaths, pain, suffering than most wars. All the more tragic because the victums have been the weakest members of society: women, children, the elderly.

This book talks about one such case where some 191,000 people were rounded up one night and were moved some 4,000 miles across the Soviet Union. For years no one knew why Stalin ordered this. The stated reason was for collaboration with the Germans. But this seemed unlikely. Only with the collapse of the Soviet Union has the information come about that they might have interferred with one of Stalin's plans to attack Turkey.

This book is a well researched story of the movement as forced by the Government, and the gradual return of many of the remaining people to their ancestral homeland.

Beyond Siberia: Two Years in a Forgotten Place

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Like a good conversation on a plane
Adventure in the Russian Far East
Vivid account of living in Russia
A Disappointment
Beyond Siberia is about being human

Beyond Siberia: Two Years in a Forgotten Place
Sharon Dirlam
Manufacturer: McSeas Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0971282722

Product Description

A true story about the people of Birobidjan, Jewish Autonomous Region, Russia, and two Peace Corps volunteers who came to know and love them.

Customer Reviews:

Like a good conversation on a plane.......2007-03-11

I enjoyed this book and am grateful for Sharon Dirlam making the effort to write it. Ultimately, though, I found the experience a little hollow. The book is a hybrid of a personal accounting of time and a series of reports on people, places and situations encountered. While some of the anecdotes may border on the banal, it does leave the reader with the sense of sharing the day to day rhythm of life in Birobidjan. However, occasional bursts of color do brighten the prose where the author appears to have taken some inspiration from an event or observation - and these make the book worthwhile.

The disappointing part about the book, though, was that it left me without much of a sense of where Sharon starts her journey, what she and her husband were looking for, or whether they found it. The book screams for answers on these point; the reader is gently picked up at the start and gently let down at the end, but there is little attempt to answer "why?" The author appears to lack a willingness to be vulnerable, choosing instead to make the experience more of a polite conversation with the reader; perhaps unconsciously reinforcing the position stated several times in the book that only those who have been through this experience first hand can really appreciate the anecdotes.

Adventure in the Russian Far East.......2006-12-28

'Beyond Siberia'', Sharon Dirlam's account of her two-year sojourn as a Peace Corps teacher brings an unfamiliar part of Russia to life. I found the structure and writing most engaging! While offering a chronological account of hers and her husband's experiences in Birobidjan, Dirlam includes many fascinating details about the life and culture they encountered. 'Zhag za Zhagem' ['step by step', page 54 and later], we see the philosophical and often humorous responses of their Russian friends to the difficult conditions of their daily lives. Dirlam's experience as a travel writer comes through in her vivid observations and pithy reflections.

This book offers a wonderful and varied cast of characters, succinctly telling anecdotes, valuable insights, and some interesting (and not always obvious) contrasts between Russian ways and those of the US. A particularly telling sequence in this regard is the story of Dirlam's return home midway through her tenure in Birobidjan--on Fourth of July.

When I finished this book, I felt like I'd been given a privileged angle of vision on an intriguing part of the world and its inhabitants, the Russian 'Jewish Autonomous Region' as it was once called. Highly recommended to teachers, Peace Corps volunteers, armchair travellers, and anyone with a curiosity about a little-known part of Russia.

Vivid account of living in Russia.......2006-12-20

"Beyond Siberia:Two Years in a Forgotten Place" is a vivid account of an American's experience of living and working in a remote section of Russia. Dirlam's manages to convey objective and insightful views of the people she learned to respect and learn from. It's an especially useful read for anyone planning to work in the Peace Corps, but for those readers like myself, it is one great learning experience that is lacking in many books about Russia. Highly recommended.

A Disappointment.......2006-12-10

As I read these other reviews I'm curious if they were reading the same book that I read. I gave it 2 stars only because I have read worse books. That is not to say that the information in the book is not interesting, or heartfelt, but I just feel poorly written. Dirlam repeats herself in many useless issues, such as the numerous times that she metions the reavealing dress of the russian girls. The book is also a bit scattered, it did not flow well. I would recomend against purchasing this book, rather for an excellent book on siberia read Colin Thurbron's "In Siberia" it will delight and amaze you.

Beyond Siberia is about being human.......2006-11-06

I could feel the Artic chill outside. Inside the room there was the warmth of friends, food, vodka and conversation. Sometimes an old grude is renewed. Always there is spontaneous outburst of group song... old Russian songs, the Beatles, the Beach Boys. "Beyond Siberia" describes life as it is with the struggles and joys, the hardships, the patience and endurance. It's about loyalty and the values of friendships living in this harsh climate region of high unemployment. The harsh realities shape the human body and psyche. It shapes their sense of community.

Sharon Dirlam observes. She observes the world around her with curiosity, intelligence, and a sense of quiet wonder. She is insightful, personal, and objective. It reflects her adventurous spirit, political and social awareness and her desire to bridge cultures through teaching english. It reflects her compassionate nature and sense of humor. This book is Sharon Dirlam's personal journal of 2 years of day-to-day living in this Siberian community with her husband, John, who also taught English. It is a MUST for anyone considering joining the Peace Corps or teaching English as a second language.

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