Black in the USSR
Soviet artworks that featured Black Americans tended to trade in stereotypes. The paintings of Alexsandr Deineka were an exception.
Alpha. Bravo. Cyrillic.
Free from Russian dictates over language usage and education, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan prepare to embrace Latin lettering. It’s the latest chapter in the region’s fraught history of alphabet reform.
Lesya Ukrainka: Ukraine’s Beloved Writer and Activist
“Lesya Ukrainka” was a carefully considered pseudonym for a writer who left behind a legacy of poems, plays, essays and activism for the Ukrainian language.
Marie Curie and Polish Resistance
The two-time Nobel winner helped preserve her native Polish language, and undertook her education, at a time when these acts were potentially treasonous.
The Politics of Drinking in Revolutionary Russia
To leaders, the ideal Soviet worker should be sober. Actual workers had other thoughts.
The Memoirs of Catherine The Great
Catherine II ruled Russia for many years. She also wrote her own memoirs, in a time when such writing was considered inappropriate for a monarch.
Ten Poems about Travel
Poetry about all kinds of travel—from grand adventures to family vacations—by Elizabeth Bishop, Rita Dove, and more.
The American Who Exposed the Tsar
American supporters of revolutionaries in Russia in the late 19th century contributed to the downfall of the Tsarism.