Reading Russian Fortunes

Reading Russian Fortunes PDF Author: Faith Wigzell
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521581233
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
Reading Russian Fortunes examines the huge popularity and cultural impact of fortune-telling among urban and literate Russians from the eighteenth century to the present. Based partly on a study of the numerous editions of little fortune-telling books, especially those devoted to dream interpretation, it documents and analyses the social history of fortune-telling in terms of class and gender, at the same time considering the function of both amateur and professional fortune-telling in a literate modernizing society. Chapters are devoted to professional fortune-tellers and their clients, and to the publishers of the books. An analysis of the relationship between urban fortune-telling and traditional oral culture, where divination played a very significant role, leads on to a discussion of the underlying reasons for the persistence of fortune-telling in modern Russian society.

Reading Russian Fortunes

Reading Russian Fortunes PDF Author: Faith Wigzell
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521581233
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 272

Get Book

Book Description
Reading Russian Fortunes examines the huge popularity and cultural impact of fortune-telling among urban and literate Russians from the eighteenth century to the present. Based partly on a study of the numerous editions of little fortune-telling books, especially those devoted to dream interpretation, it documents and analyses the social history of fortune-telling in terms of class and gender, at the same time considering the function of both amateur and professional fortune-telling in a literate modernizing society. Chapters are devoted to professional fortune-tellers and their clients, and to the publishers of the books. An analysis of the relationship between urban fortune-telling and traditional oral culture, where divination played a very significant role, leads on to a discussion of the underlying reasons for the persistence of fortune-telling in modern Russian society.

Wheel of Fortune

Wheel of Fortune PDF Author: Thane Gustafson
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674066472
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 673

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Book Description
The world’s largest exporter of oil is facing mounting problems that could send shock waves through every major economy. Gustafson provides an authoritative account of the Russian oil industry from the last years of communism to its uncertain future. The stakes extend beyond global energy security to include the threat of a destabilized Russia.

Mixed Fortunes

Mixed Fortunes PDF Author: Vladimir Popov
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191008656
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description
The rise of the West is often attributed the presence of certain features in Western countries from the 16th century that were absent in more traditional societies: the abolition of serfdom and Protestant ethics, the protection of property rights, and free universities. The problem with this reasoning is that, before the 16th century, there were many countries with social structures that possessed these same features that didn't experience rapid productivity growth. This book offers a new interpretation of the 'Great Divergence' and 'Great Convergence' stories. It explores how Western countries grew rich and why parts of the developing world (South and East Asia and the Middle East) did not catch up with the West from 1500 to 1950 but began to narrow the gap after 1950. It also examines why others (Latin America, South Africa, and Russia) were more successful at catching up from 1500 to 1950, but then experienced a slowdown in economic growth compared to other developing countries. Mixed Fortunes offers a novel interpretation of the rise of the West and of the subsequent development of 'the rest' and China and Russia, important examples of two groups of developing countries, are examined in greater detail.

Fortunes of War

Fortunes of War PDF Author: Stephen Coonts
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
ISBN: 9781429958141
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 368

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Book Description
Four Japanese nationalists storm Tokyo's imperial palace and behead the emperor. Their goal: to invade Russia and conquer oil-rich Siberia in order to dominate the globe. Soon the world explodes in war, as Japan, Russia and the United States go head-to-head in a struggle that threatens total destruction. Now three men from three different nations must meet their ultimate challenge: to fight as patriots in a war driven by greed and madness--and save the planet from nothing less than a full-scale nuclear attack. Stephen Coonts' Fortunes of War is an explosive, action-packed thriller.

The Lost Fortune of the Tsars

The Lost Fortune of the Tsars PDF Author: William Clarke
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 9780312303938
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 356

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Book Description
At its peak before the first world war, the fortune of the Romanovs of Russia has been calculated at over 45 billion dollars. It included fabulous state jewels, exquisite Faberge eggs, the palaces in and around St. Petersburg and the Crimea, the royal yachts and trains, and millions in Tsarist bank accounts in London, New York, and elsewhere. Since the secret murders of Nicholas and Alexandra and their family in 1918, and the subsequent, and controversial, discovery of their remains, the mystery persists: What happened to all that wealth? Questions surrounding the lost fortune are inevitably tied up with the issue of just who was killed that terrible summer's night in 1918 at Ekaterinburg. William Clarke goes to the heart of the Romanov story, to the Central State Archives in Russia, which for three-quarters of a century had been filed away in secrecy, and is only now open to investigation. The result of over twenty years of research, Clarke's quest reveals the truth behind claims to the Tsarist fortune made by the likes of Anna Anderson and Michel Goleniewski, and sheds new light on this most intriguing of historical mysteries.

The Fortune-Telling Book

The Fortune-Telling Book PDF Author: Raymond Buckland
Publisher: Visible Ink Press
ISBN: 1578597935
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 562

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Book Description
A look at Fortune Telling and Divination from the author of Buckland's Complete Book of Witchcraft Best-selling Wiccan seer and gypsy mystic Raymond Buckland focused his attention on the intuitive art of prognostication in this tome. A master of his art, the late Buckland designed fortune-telling decks, read cards, and did other types of fortune telling for over fifty years. A comprehensive A-to-Z exploration of all that peers into tomorrow, The Fortune-Telling Book: The Encyclopedia of Divination and Soothsaying divines the meanings of 400 key topics relating to this oft-misunderstood, oft-consulted-upon science. Written in clear, concise language, it discusses everything from aeromancy (seeing by observing atmospheric phenomena) to zoomancy (divination by the appearance or behavior of animals) and the 398 others in between. This fascinating encyclopedia is illustrated with 100 pictures and includes a detailed index and additional reading recommendations. Packed with colorful histories, people, and significant events, The Fortune-Telling Book shows readers how to foretell their own fates. It’s sure to please fortune-telling enthusiasts, whatever their powers.

Rich Russians

Rich Russians PDF Author: Elisabeth Schimpfössl
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190677783
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
The lives of wealthy people have long held an allure to many, but the lives of wealthy Russians pose a particular fascination. Having achieved their riches over the course of a single generation, the top 0.1 percent of Russian society have become known for ostentatious lifestyles and tastes. Nevertheless, as Elisabeth Schimpfössl shows in this book, their stories reveal a bourgeois existence that is distinct in its circumstances and self-definition, and far more complex than the caricatures suggest. Rich Russians takes a deep and unprecedented look at this group: their personal stories, trajectories, ideas about life and how they see their role and position both on top of Russian society as well as globally. These people grew up and lived through a historically unique period of economic turmoil and social change following the collapse of the Soviet Union. But when taken in a wider historical context, their lives follow a familiar path, from new money to respectable money; parvenus becoming part of Society. Based on interviews with millionaires, billionaires, their spouses and children, Rich Russians concludes that, as a class, they have acquired all sorts of cultural and social resources which help consolidate their personal power. They have developed distinguished and refined tastes, rediscovered their family history, and begun actively engaging in philanthropy. Most importantly, they have worked out a narrative to justify why they deserve their elitist position in society - because of who they are and their superior qualities - and why they should be treated as equals by the West. This is a group whose social, cultural and political influence is likely to outlast any regime change. As the first book to examine the transformation of Russia's former "robber barons" into a new social class, Rich Russians provides insight into how this nation's newly wealthy tick.

Fortune's Sonata

Fortune's Sonata PDF Author: Edward Glover
Publisher: The Oak House
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
English by birth, Prussian by marriage, rebellious by nature, the beautiful Arabella von Deppe steers her family through turbulent historical times in this thrilling story of love and loss, betrayal and revenge, ambition and beliefs, friendship and fate. With music as her inspiration and a murderer as her friend, she proves a worthy adversary of Fortune as she weathers winds beyond her control. Against a vivid backdrop of Frederick the Great's court, the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, the action in Edward Glover's sequel to The Music Book spans four decades and four countries – Prussia, Russia, England and France – bringing the English countess face to face with Prussian kings, a Russian empress, Beethoven and Mozart. The second volume in the compelling Herzberg trilogy, Fortune's Sonata ends with an intriguing mystery that sets the scene for the final book, about two families on the road to the First World War.

The Oligarchs

The Oligarchs PDF Author: David E Hoffman
Publisher: PublicAffairs
ISBN: 161039111X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 610

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Book Description
In this saga of brilliant triumphs and magnificent failures, David E. Hoffman, the former Moscow bureau chief for the Washington Post, sheds light on the hidden lives of Russia's most feared power brokers: the oligarchs. Focusing on six of these ruthless men— Alexander Smolensky, Yuri Luzhkov, Anatoly Chubais, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Boris Berezovsky, and Vladimir Gusinsky—Hoffman shows how a rapacious, unruly capitalism was born out of the ashes of Soviet communism.

The Routledge Companion to Russian Literature

The Routledge Companion to Russian Literature PDF Author: Neil Cornwell
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134569076
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 282

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Book Description
The Routledge Companion to Russian Literature is an engaging and accessible guide to Russian writing of the past thousand years. The volume covers the entire span of Russian literature, from the Middle Ages to the post-Soviet period, and explores all the forms that have made it so famous: poetry, drama and, of course, the Russian novel. A particular emphasis is given to the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, when Russian literature achieved world-wide recognition through the works of writers such as Pushkin, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Chekhov, Nabokov and Solzhenitsyn. Covering a range of subjects including women's writing, Russian literary theory, socialist realism and émigré writing, leading international scholars open up the wonderful diversity of Russian literature. With recommended lists of further reading and an excellent up-to-date general bibliography, The Routledge Companion to Russian Literature is the perfect guide for students and general readers alike.