Introduction by Vyacheslav Glazychev
Moscow, Europe Publishing House, 2006, pp 448

For all its scientific fundamentality, this book by Vasily Ulianovsky is an extremely engaging experience for a reader taking a rapt interest in all those 'Russian old times' that regularly flash back at us in modernity. Having lived through troubled times of their own, present-day readers take a particularly keen interest in the transition period when Russia was shaking and rocking in its quest for freedom and search for order. The phenomenon of imposture and its amazing success, the speed and readiness shown by some of the boyars, clergy, nobility and peasants in swearing allegiance to Godunov, the Impostor, Shuisky, yet another Impostor, the Polish Prince Wladislaus - all of this does not appear that great a puzzle for a reader who has lived through the perestroika and the referendum on preservation of the USSR, the Belovezhskaya Pushcha Accords and the GKChP putsch, the confrontation between the Russian parliament and the first Russian president, etc. It is a lesser puzzle indeed, yet a puzzle it still is. The book brings back to us the voices of those who witnessed and took part in the events that constitute what we now call the "Time of troubles", presenting the reader with the rationale behind them, as well as the myths piled up much later.

Moscow, Europe Publishing House, 2006, pp 688

The book by Dominic Lieven, lecturer at the London School of Economics and descendant of officers in Russian service, portrays Russian history in a general context of empire destinies. The British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire – it is only in this environment, which – to a greater or lesser extent – has always been hostile to Russia, that the history of our country and its current perception in the West can be fully understood. What is probably the most interesting here is Lieven’s attempt to retrace the process of disintegration of empires and its long-term effects. The author’s comparative historical approach to the complicated subject of empires is not often to be found in contemporary literature. Besides, the specific combination of scientific distancing and the author’s emotional attachment to the country of his ancestors bestows a unique individuality to the book.

Moscow, "Evropa" Publishing House, 2006 - 384 pp.

The decline of the Han dynasty marking the boundary between antiquity and the Middle Ages in China has given the Chinese society and the Chinese civilization its look for many centuries ahead. This book is mainly dedicated to the last decades of the Han dynasty. It is called upon to contribute to the disclosure of the principal contradictions and tendencies of the historical process in Imperial China at that poignant moment. The reader will find here information on major political events and the state structure of the late Han Empire that were almost left out of the historical studies of China.

Moscow, Europe Publishing House, 2006, pp 672

Today, as Russia once again tries to claim its place in the world, quite often facing strong resistance both in the East and the West, it is of particular importance to reconsider foreign policy of the mature Russian Empire under five tsars: Alexander I, Nicholas I, Alexander II, Alexander III and Nicholas II. The world has changed, and modern Russia has little in common with the long-gone Empire. However, it is certainly productive to study achievements and failures of Russian diplomacy, correct and wrong political assessments, properly elaborated strategies and harsh strategic miscalculations. Perhaps the most revealing are the sad repetitions of delusions based primarily on emotional assessments rather than rational calculations. It is too often that Russia has become hostage to illusions that one can have friends in the sphere where only interests really matter.

Foreword Vyacheslav Glazichev
Moscow, Europe Publishing House, 2006, pp 264

Jane Jacobs is the author of «The Death and Life of Great American Cities» in the ‘60s. That book has for the first time allowed the reader the benefit of doubt regarding the professionals’ real awareness of public needs and the best way to satisfy them. The genre of the «Dark Age Ahead» can be best described as a warning. However, it is interesting, in the first place, for the simple interpretation of plain facts. Brought together, these facts do not leave a stone standing from the myths that life is much better across the ocean.

Those who cherish such myths will be disappointed to discover that the housing problem is not any easier – and may be even harder in North America, that there is not much left of the corporate professional ethics, that mass production of diplomas is taking the place of schools that still preserve rapport between the student and teacher, that the creation of huge suburbs is finishing off the traditional urban values. At the same time, the author belongs to the generation of 20th century’s «mastodons» who never lose optimism, however modest it may be.

Foreword by G.O.Pavlovsky
Moscow, Europe Publishing House, 2005, pp 544

The book by Natalia Kozlova is a result of painstaking research conducted in the People's Archives, founded fifteen years ago. From a multitude of diary notes left by ordinary people, the author has selected a few autobiographies by low-rank careerists, who, like tiny wood splinters, made heroic efforts to keep on the surface of whirlpools of great Soviet history. The book includes an ingenuous chronicle of one among millions of simple women, who helped the country to survive in most unbearable situations.