Travel Tales Collections: The USSR


Book Description

Michael Brein’s Travel Tales Collections is a monthly bookazine release of three very interesting similar travel stories of a kind on a variety of very specific travel subjects, themes, or countries, such as close calls, great escapes, scams, wildlife, Paris, Morocco, Mexico, and so on. Collections are small groups of similar travel tales making their way into ebooks in The Travel Psychologist Travel Tales eBook Series. Say, for example, you are interested in the subject of pickpockets. You'll read in the 'Collection' on pickpocketing several travel stories about how several people dealt with pickpockets in their travels. So, are you maybe Interested in specific travel stories about France, African safaris, safety and security overseas, mystical experiences, rogues and characters, ghosts and the paranormal, the Cold War Soviet Union, 'from hell' travel tales, or what have you? Eventually, there will be up to several hundred Collections on an extensive variety of very interesting travel subjects and themes to choose from. Simply select any Collections that suit your specific travel interests. You wouldn’t believe the incredible stories people have told me about their travels. These are—simply stated—great stories! Travel Tales Collections No. 2 Sep 2014: The USSR 1 Michael Brein’s Travel Tales Collection, The USSR 1, features three wild travel tales of unbelievable things that could have happened to you during the old Cold War Soviet Union communist era. These are—simply stated great stories! Of course, there are always the usual, typical, expected sorts of Eastern Europe (a la the Cold War) experiences. But there are also those incredible unexpected surprises that become all the more memorable just because they are so unique! The Travel Tales Collection, The USSR 1, features three Cold War, communist era Soviet Union stories of international intrigue in the form of spies, the KGB, the Secret Police, and even bugged hotel rooms. Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you! The Travel Tales Collection, The USSR 1, is part of Michael Brein’s Collections travel tales series and contains among the best travel stories from Michael’s huge collection of travel tales that he has gathered in interviews with nearly 1,750 world travelers and adventurers during his four decades of travel to more than 125 countries throughout the world. Travel Tales Collections are groups of three or more very interesting similar travel stories of a kind on a variety of very specific travel subjects, themes, or countries, such as close calls, great escapes, pickpocketing, scams, safety and security in travel, Paris, Morocco, Mexico, and so on. Eventually, several hundred Collections on all sorts of specific travel subjects, themes, and countries will be available on the Kindle. Future Collections of Soviet Union and Russia travel stories will include additional travel stories on both the earlier Soviet Union era as well as the post Cold War Russian Federation.




Travels in Siberia


Book Description

A Dazzling Russian travelogue from the bestselling author of Great Plains In his astonishing new work, Ian Frazier, one of our greatest and most entertaining storytellers, trains his perceptive, generous eye on Siberia, the storied expanse of Asiatic Russia whose grim renown is but one explanation among hundreds for the region's fascinating, enduring appeal. In Travels in Siberia, Frazier reveals Siberia's role in history—its science, economics, and politics—with great passion and enthusiasm, ensuring that we'll never think about it in the same way again. With great empathy and epic sweep, Frazier tells the stories of Siberia's most famous exiles, from the well-known—Dostoyevsky, Lenin (twice), Stalin (numerous times)—to the lesser known (like Natalie Lopukhin, banished by the empress for copying her dresses) to those who experienced unimaginable suffering in Siberian camps under the Soviet regime, forever immortalized by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn in The Gulag Archipelago. Travels in Siberia is also a unique chronicle of Russia since the end of the Soviet Union, a personal account of adventures among Russian friends and acquaintances, and, above all, a unique, captivating, totally Frazierian take on what he calls the "amazingness" of Russia—a country that, for all its tragic history, somehow still manages to be funny. Travels in Siberia will undoubtedly take its place as one of the twenty-first century's indispensable contributions to the travel-writing genre.




Love Like Water, Love Like Fire


Book Description

Comedy and tragedy collide in stories of family life in Soviet Russia and the complexities of the immigrant experience “We can’t stop turning the pages of this book.” —Ilya Kaminsky, New York Times Book Review From the moment of its founding, the USSR was reviled and admired, demonized and idealized. Many Jews saw the new society ushered in by the Russian Revolution as their salvation from shtetl life with its deprivations and deadly pogroms. But Soviet Russia was rife with antisemitism, and a Jewish boy growing up in Leningrad learned early, harsh, and enduring lessons. Unsparing and poignant, Mikhail Iossel’s twenty stories of Soviet childhood and adulthood, dissidence and subsequent immigration, are filled with wit and humor even as they describe the daily absurdities of a fickle and often perilous reality.




Wake Up and Smell the Shit


Book Description

Stand back! The tales in this raunchy round-the-world romp might get you dirty. We've all had unspeakable experiences while traveling that we're ashamed to admit, but these often become our best stories in the retelling. The writers in this collection cast inhibition aside and reveal their weirdest and worst moments and how they made the best of them. And memorable moments in exotic destinations come in all shapes and sizes: insects as big as Pam Anderson’s left tit, regrettable sex, stink-eyed officials, horrible healers, Lady Gaga’s shoes and Madonna’s special meal, trigger-happy militants, and peeping Tom rock stars. Adventure vicariously as: Spud Hilton (not Monty Python) finds the Holy Grail by accident. Meghan Ward squats, and then the toilet grunts back, in Goa. Kasha Rigby proved how tough she is on National Geographic’s Ultimate Survival Alaska, but is she a match for a 90-year-old bone breaker in Guatemala? Namibians stereotype Chinese men as Bruce Lee—Gerald Yeung wonders if attacking baboons will do the same. Keph Senett (hoping not to follow in the footsteps of Pussy Riot) braves bombs, police and a Soviet-era sofa bed to play soccer at the LGBT games in Putin’s Russia. Jabba-the-Turd versus Shannon Bradford in an epic showdown in Argentina. And many more….




Stalin's Nose


Book Description

A Tamworth pig, a coffin, two aunts, a battered Trabant and the fall of Berlin Wall: 'Stalin's Nose' is an exceptionally vivid story of a journey from Berlin to Moscow at the end of the Cold War, through an eastern Europe divested of fear and free to face its past, revealing what life was truly like under totalitarian rule.




Secondhand Time


Book Description

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A symphonic oral history about the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the emergence of a new Russia, from Svetlana Alexievich, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE WASHINGTON POST AND PUBLISHERS WEEKLY • LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZE WINNER One of the New York Times’s 100 Best Books of the 21st Century When the Swedish Academy awarded Svetlana Alexievich the Nobel Prize, it cited her for inventing “a new kind of literary genre,” describing her work as “a history of emotions—a history of the soul.” Alexievich’s distinctive documentary style, combining extended individual monologues with a collage of voices, records the stories of ordinary women and men who are rarely given the opportunity to speak, whose experiences are often lost in the official histories of the nation. In Secondhand Time, Alexievich chronicles the demise of communism. Everyday Russian citizens recount the past thirty years, showing us what life was like during the fall of the Soviet Union and what it’s like to live in the new Russia left in its wake. Through interviews spanning 1991 to 2012, Alexievich takes us behind the propaganda and contrived media accounts, giving us a panoramic portrait of contemporary Russia and Russians who still carry memories of oppression, terror, famine, massacres—but also of pride in their country, hope for the future, and a belief that everyone was working and fighting together to bring about a utopia. Here is an account of life in the aftermath of an idea so powerful it once dominated a third of the world. A magnificent tapestry of the sorrows and triumphs of the human spirit woven by a master, Secondhand Time tells the stories that together make up the true history of a nation. “Through the voices of those who confided in her,” The Nation writes, “Alexievich tells us about human nature, about our dreams, our choices, about good and evil—in a word, about ourselves.” A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The Wall Street Journal, NPR, Financial Times, Kirkus Reviews




The Marching Morons


Book Description

The Marching Morons, a thought-provoking novella by C. M. Kornbluth, presents a chilling vision of a future dominated by mediocrity and conformity. Set in a world where intelligence is a rarity, this compelling narrative challenges readers to reflect on the consequences of societal complacency and the loss of critical thought. As the story unfolds, we are introduced to a protagonist navigating a dystopian society filled with the "marching morons"—people who blindly follow the status quo. What happens when the few intelligent individuals are left to contend with a populace that prioritizes entertainment over enlightenment? Kornbluth masterfully explores these questions, crafting a narrative that is both cautionary and deeply engaging. The Marching Morons is celebrated for its sharp social commentary and dark humor. Kornbluth's insightful prose and vivid characterization create a thought-provoking experience that resonates with contemporary readers, prompting them to consider the implications of their own choices in a rapidly evolving world. Readers are drawn to The Marching Morons for its relevance and ability to inspire critical thinking. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in the intersection of science fiction and social critique, offering a glimpse into a future that serves as a mirror to our present realities. Don’t miss the opportunity to engage with this powerful narrative that warns of the dangers of apathy and conformity. Purchase The Marching Morons today, and challenge your perceptions of intelligence and society!




Travel to the USSR.


Book Description




Eastern Approaches


Book Description

Fitztroy Maclean was one of the real-life inspirations for super-spy James Bond. After adventures in Soviet Russia before the war, Maclean fought with the SAS in North Africa in 1942. There he specialised in hair-raising commando raids behind enemy lines, including the daring and outrageous kidnapping of the German Consul in Axis-controlled Iraq. Maclean's extraordinary adventures in the Western Desert and later fighting alongside Tito's partisans in Yugoslavia are blistering reading and show what it took to be a British hero who broke the mould . . .




A Tale of Two Navies


Book Description

A Tale of Two Navies is an analysis of the unique relationship between the United States Navy and the Royal Navy from 1960 to present. This loosely chronological study examines the histories, strategies, operations, technology, and intelligence activities of both navies. The special intelligence relationship is highlighted by unique knowledge and insights into the workings of U.S. and British intelligence. Bringing his extensive experience in both navies to bear, Anthony Wells provides a revealing look at the importance of naval thinking — how it impacts not only every level of naval activity, but also national defense as a whole. A Tale of Two Navies probes selective key themes and offers a discourse between the author and readers. Throughout, Wells challenges his reader to consider how the U.S. and the U.K. can best collaborate to advance their common strategic interests. This insightful look at the “special relationship” is especially relevant given emerging and increasing threats from China, Russia, and radical Islamist terror organizations.