Here's a page from Longitude, the specialty bookseller for travelers. To order online, and to see the latest, most comprehensive selection of books and maps, go to http://reading.longitudebooks.com/LO1785. You may also call 800-342-2164 to order or request a catalog.

These 4 items are available for $73, including U.S. shipping, a 15% discount (Item no. EXRUS15)

Lonely Planet Russia & Belarus  •  Richard Nebesky GUIDEBOOK •  2006 •  PAPER  • 704 PAGES A practical guide to Russia, including Ukraine & Belarus, featuring a good overview of culture and history and, more significantly, detailed travel information on where to go and what to do. (RUS82, $29.99)
Lonely Planet Russian Phrasebook  •  James Jenkin  •  Inna Zaitseva LANGUAGE & PHRASEBOOKS •  2006 •  PAPER  • 316 PAGES A handy shirtpocket phrasebook for Russian basics focusing on pronunciation, basic grammar and essential vocabulary for the traveler. (RUS111, $8.99)
Pimsleur Quick & Simple Russian  •  Pimsleur Language Method LANGUAGE & PHRASEBOOKS •  2005 •  AUDIO CD Four audio CDs with eight 30-minute lessons in basic Russian, covering elementary vocabulary and phrases used in travel and everyday situations. The Pimsleur method emphasizes the use of listening skills without reading materials (so there isn't a book to follow along). It's advertised as "Totally audio: hear it, learn it, speak it." (RUS112, $19.95)
Russia, A Concise History  •  Ronald Hingley HISTORY •  2003 •  PAPER  • 224 PAGES A very readable, condensed history of Russia's multiple transformations from her illiterate, pagan, Slavic roots to a multi-ethnic empire. Well-known scholar Ronald Hingley summarizes the tragic history of Russia from the invasions of the Tartars, Napoleon and Germans to the collapse of the Soviet Union. He doesn't shy from the abuses of power by autocratic tsars and the totalitarian Communist regime. With 205 well-integrated illustrations and four maps. (RUS04, $19.95)

Survival Kit for Overseas Living, For Americans Planning to Live and Work Abroad  •  L. Robert Kohls   • GUIDEBOOK  •  A handbook for Americans planning to live abroad. (GEN137, $19.95)
Echoes of a Native Land, Two Centuries of a Russian Village  •  Serge Schmemann   • CULTURAL PORTRAIT  •  The author draws on his knowledge of Russia, family photographs, letters and memoirs to tell the story of the czarist past and present realities of his ancestral home outside Moscow. (RUS27, $19.00)
Land of the Firebird, The Beauty of Old Russia  •  Suzanne Massie   • HISTORY • HARD TO FIND ELSEWHERE  •  Massie pays careful attention to telling details as well as to the larger movements in pre-Revolutionary Russian art, literature and daily life in this rewarding, affectionate overview of 19th-century palaces, courts and culture. (RUS21, $35.00)
Lenin's Tomb  •  David Remnick   • HISTORY  •  A gripping eyewitness tale of the collapse of the Soviet Union. Remnick, the Washington Post reporter on the scene, combines fine historical scholarship with great storytelling. (RUS07, $16.95)
Natasha's Dance, A Cultural History of Russia  •  Orlando Figes   • CULTURAL PORTRAIT  •  In this lively cultural history, Figes looks at both the great works by Russian masters and longstanding folk traditions. The title is drawn from a scene of Tolstoy's War and Peace in which a European-educated countess performs a peasant dance. (RUS180, $20.00)
Russia and the Russians, A History  •  Geoffrey Hosking   • HISTORY  •  This ambitious history tackles with clarity the scope and breadth of the Russian empire from its Kievan beginnings through Imperial expansion, revolution and the Soviet period all the way to the 21st century. An engaging history by a leading scholar, noteworthy for its big ideas, ambition and clarity. (RUS208, $21.50)
Ten Days That Shook the World  •  John Reed   • HISTORY  •  An eyewitness account of the Russian Revolution by an American journalist, a political classic that captures the spirit of those heady days of excitement and idealism before disillusion and cynicism set in. (RUS13, $12.00)
The Art of Crossing Cultures  •  Craig Storti   • CULTURAL PORTRAIT  •  Tips for travelers adjusting to a new culture. (GEN136, $21.95)
The Icon and the Axe, An Interpretive History of Russian Culture  •  James H. Billington   • HISTORY  •  A cultural and artistic history, written by the Librarian of Congress. This book is a comprehensive, intellectual investigation of the spiritual and ideological forces that led to the development of Russia. (RUS09, $23.00)
The Art and Architecture of Russia  •  George Hamilton  •  Judith Gordon   • ART & ARCHITECTURE  •  An elegantly written introduction to the art and architecture of Russia. Published in 1954, it's a good handbook for the traveler that goes beyond Moscow and St. Petersburg. Includes 314 black-and-white illustrations. (RUS38, $32.00)
Catherine the Great  •  Henri Troyat   • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR  •  One of the world's best biographers paints an unforgettable portrait of Catherine, the monarch of Russia's Enlightenment. (RUS10, $18.00)
Peter the Great, His Life and World  •  Robert Massie   • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR  •  In this Pulitzer Prize-winning biography, Massie portrays the giant of history who transformed Russia from backwater tsardom to major empire. (RUS48, $19.95)
Tsar, The Lost World of Nicholas and Alexandra  •  Peter Kurth  •  Peter Christopher  •  Edvard Radzinsky   • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR  •  A tribute to the last of the Romanovs, featuring a treasure trove of never-published photographs and illuminating text. It brings to life in sumptuous detail the tumultuous life and times of Nicholas and Alexandra. Masterful. (RUS79, $29.99)
From Karamzin to Bunin: An Anthology of Russian Short Stories  •  Carl Proffer   • ANTHOLOGY  •  A broad selection of Russian literary works from the earliest prose to the years before the revolution, featuring reliable translations of masterpieces from Pushkin, Tolstoy, Chekhov, Gogol, and more. (RUS08, $21.95)
Crime and Punishment  •  Fyodor Dostoevsky  •  David McDuff   • LITERATURE  •  Dostoevsky's thriller of murder and redemption is redolent of St. Petersburg's atmosphere. A cornerstone of Russian literature, and one of the greatest detective stories ever told. (RUS18, $14.00)
The Master and Margarita  •  Mikhail Bulgakov  •  Mirra Ginsberg   • LITERATURE  •  Bulgakov spins an elaborate allegory to convey his anti-Stalinist message. (RUS44, $11.95)