Considered by many critics the greatest novel ever written, War and Peace is also one of the most feared. And at 1,500 pages, it's no wonder why. Still, in July 2009 Newsweek put War and Peace at the top of its list of 100 great novels and a 2007 edition of the AARP Bulletin included the novel in their list of the top four books everybody should read by the age of fifty. A New York Times survey from 2009 identified War and Peace as the world classic you're most likely to find people reading on their subway commute to work. What might all those Newsweek devotees, senior citizens, and harried commuters see in a book about the Napoleonic Wars in the early 1800s? War and Peace is many things. It is a love story, a family saga, a war novel. But at its core it's a novel about human beings attempting to create a meaningful life for themselves in a country torn apart by war, social change, political intrigue, and spiritual confusion. It is a mirror of our times.

Give War and Peace a Chance takes readers on a journey through War and Peace that reframes their very understanding of what it means to live through troubled times and survive them. Touching on a broad range of topics, from courage to romance, parenting to death, Kaufman demonstrates how Tolstoy's wisdom can help us live fuller, more meaningful lives. The ideal companion to War and Peace, this book makes Tolstoy's characters lively and palpable...and may well persuade readers to finally dive into one of the world's most acclaimed--and daunting--novels (Kirkus Reviews).

With over 260 million speakers around the world, Russian remains one of the most popular and marketable languages you can learn. And for those who have no idea where to begin, Russian For Dummies is the perfect first step!

In this easy-to-understand resource for Russian language beginners, you'll discover basic grammar and common expressions you might use while shopping, dining out, traveling, or conducting business. You'll also find simplified and generalized conjugation rules and a streamlined approach to grammar based on how you actually understand the language, rather than technical rules and details.

This book offers:

• Supplemental online resources so you can hear how native Russian speakers use the words you're trying to learn
• Guidance on identifying Cyrillic letters from the alphabet used by Russian speakers and writers
• Tons of useful exercise and practice opportunities you can take advantage of to sharpen your skills

Perfect for any newcomer to the Russian language trying to pick up their first few phrases, Russian For Dummies is a fantastic first foray into conversational Russian that will have you ordering meals, going shopping, and navigating other day-to-day situations with ease. Удачи! (That means good luck!)

This user-friendly phrasebook will jump-start your comprehension and have you speaking basic Russian in no time. Its quick-and-easy approach gives you language fundamentals up front, the Words to Know section helps you find the right word fast, and the easy-to-use pronunciation key helps other people understand what you're trying to say. You'll learn how to:

• Get directions, shop, and eat out
• Talk numbers, dates, and time
• Chat about family and work
• Discuss sports and the weather
• Deal with problems and emergencies
• Pronounce familiar English words and phrases in Russian and English
• Beware of words that sound to English but don't mean the same thing
• Read signs that use the Russian alphabet
• Follow the conventions of Russian pronunciation
• Use basic Russian grammar correctly
• Keep ten commonly used Russian phrases on the tip of your tongue
• Use basic telephone vocabulary and send letters, emails, and faxes

Don't have time to study the language before you get to Russia? No worries. Just flip through Russian Phrases For Dummies, find the section that fits your needs, and start talking

A revelatory new portrait of the courageous woman who saved Dostoyevsky's life--and became a pioneer in Russian literary history

In the fall of 1866, a twenty-year-old stenographer named Anna Snitkina applied for a position with a writer she idolized: Fyodor Dostoyevsky. A self-described girl of the sixties, Snitkina had come of age during Russia's first feminist movement, and Dostoyevsky--a notorious radical turned acclaimed novelist--had impressed the young woman with his enlightened and visionary fiction. Yet in person she found the writer terribly unhappy, broken, tormented, weakened by epilepsy, and yoked to a ruinous gambling addiction. Alarmed by his condition, Anna became his trusted first reader and confidante, then his wife, and finally his business manager--launching one of literature's most turbulent and fascinating marriages.

The Gambler Wife offers a fresh and captivating portrait of Anna Dostoyevskaya, who reversed the novelist's freefall and cleared the way for two of the most notable careers in Russian letters--her husband's and her own. Drawing on diaries, letters, and other little-known archival sources, Andrew Kaufman reveals how Anna protected her family from creditors, demanding in-laws, and her greatest romantic rival, through years of penury and exile. We watch as she navigates the writer's self-destructive binges in the casinos of Europe--even hazarding an audacious turn at roulette herself--until his addiction is conquered. And, finally, we watch as Anna frees her husband from predatory contracts by founding her own publishing house, making Anna the first solo female publisher in Russian history.

The result is a story that challenges ideas of empowerment, sacrifice, and female agency in nineteenth-century Russia--and a welcome new appraisal of an indomitable woman whose legacy has been nearly lost to literary history.

Understanding Tolstoy recreates Tolstoy's lifelong artistic and spiritual journey, taking readers to the core of the writer's world through nuanced close readings of his major novels and novellas. Andrew D. Kaufman's broad and accessible analysis of Tolstoy's work speaks to the ways in which Tolstoy, despite living in a manner far removed from the experiences of most modern-day Americans, is still applicable and contemporary.

From a reconstruction of Olenin's search for truth in The Cossacks to an illuminating analysis of Hadji-Murat's tragic last stand, Understanding Tolstoy brings to life the fascinating parallels between Tolstoy's personal quest and his characters' journeys. Whether writing about the ballrooms and battlefields of War and Peace or the spectrum of sexual and spiritual attachments in Anna Karenina, Tolstoy emerges as a vital, searching artist who continually grows and surprises us, yet is driven by a single, unchanging belief in universal human truths.

Understanding Tolstoy is a treasure trove of critical and philosophical insights that will appeal to Tolstoy aficionados of all kinds, from advanced scholars to undergraduate students. The book offers an eminently readable guide to those entering Tolstoy's world for the first time or the tenth, and it invites them to grapple alongside the writer and his characters with the most urgent existential questions of our time, and all times.