Academic Studies Press

“A fitting conclusion to a well-researched and meticulously edited memoir translation.” — Kirkus Reviews

“You have to read this book… It’s not like anything you read before.” — Tablet Magazine

Set in Ukraine, Crimea, and Israel, this unique two-volume autobiography offers a fascinating, detailed picture of life in Tsarist Russia and Israel during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Goldenshteyn (1848-1930), a traditional Jew who was orphaned as a young boy and became a shochet (kosher slaughterer) as a young man, is a master storyteller. Folksy, funny, streetwise, and self-confident, he is a keen observer of his surroundings. His accounts are vivid and readable, sometimes stunning in their intensity. 

The memoir is brimming with information. Goldenshteyn’s adventures shed light on communal life, persecution, family relationships, religious practices and beliefs, social classes, local politics, interactions between Jews and other religious communities, epidemics, poverty, competition for resources, migration, war, technology, modernity and secularization. In chronicling his own life, Goldenshteyn inadvertently tells a bigger story—the story of how a small, oppressed people, among other minority groups, struggled for survival in the massive Russian Empire and in the Land of Israel.

Volume two begins in 1873, when Goldenshteyn obtains his first position as a shochet in Slobodze, and it follows him to the Crimea, where he endures 34 years  of vicissitudes. In 1913, he fulfills a dream of immigrating to the Land of Israel, hoping to find tranquility in his old age. Instead, he is met with the turbulence of the First World War, as battles rage between the retreating Ottoman Turks and the advancing British forces.

Informed by research in Ukrainian, Israeli and American archives and personal interviews with the few surviving individuals who knew Goldenshteyn personally, The Shochet is a magnificent new contribution to Jewish and Eastern European history.

This volume, like its predecessor of the same title, offers the first daily account of the war forced upon the State of Israel by Hamas’s brutal attack on its southern communities near the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023. Focusing on the second six months of that war, Professor Monty Penkower examines in detail its local, regional, and international significance. Joining extensive research and a limpid prose, as in his many other books on modern Jewish history, this prize-winning historian again displays a definitive mastery of his craft.

The fourth and final volume of the highly-acclaimed autobiographical cycle of Jewish memoir and history.

Bridge Builder: My Life Since the Holocaust is the fourth and final volume of Shimon Redlich’s autobiographical cycle, which began with Together and Apart in Brezany (2002), a description of relations among Poles, Ukrainians and Jews in his native town and his survival during the Holocaust. It continued with Life in Transit (2010), an account of his family’s resettlement in postwar Lodz and a new life in Israel. A New Life in Israel (2018) portrayed his adjustment to life on a kibbutz and service in the Israel Defense Forces. In Bridge Builder, Redlich recounts his life since the late fifties. It features his academic journey from student in Jerusalem and the US to professor at Ben-Gurion University, his friendships, his encounters with Jews and non-Jews in Eastern Europe, and his unconventional approach to controversial topics. As in previous volumes, in Bridge Builder Redlich’s own memories are supported and enriched by meticulous historical research.

ENG:

RUS:

Огромная Российская империя всегда испытывала проблему при получении актуальных и полных знаний о своих подданных, особенно если речь шла о  фронтире, населенном Другими. Историк Ян Кэмпбелл рисует картину взаимоотношений между центром и степной казахской периферией и показывает, что эта часть света была настолько непонятна царским чиновникам, а знания о регионе были столь необходимы империи, что помощь местных посредников оказалась незаменимой. Порой эти посредники оказывались способными даже влиять на всю политику русской колонизации. В других случаях империя была полностью уверена в контроле ситуации и в результате принимала губительные решения с далеко идущими негативными последствиями. Обо всех перипетиях этих сложных взаимоотношений окраины и центра — в новой книге известного американского историка.

Книга Анны Крыловой, профессора кафедры современной русской истории (Duke University), предлагает переосмыслить феномен женщин-добровольцев, которыеbвместе со своими любимыми и близкими ушли на фронт в 1941-м. Пулеметчицы и снайперы, зенитчицы и летчицы, саперы и танкистки, и даже командиры мужских подразделений — женщины наравне с мужчинами сражались на фронтах Второй мировой войны. Какие изменения должны были произойти в гендерном мировоззрении довоенного сталинского общества, чтобы феномен женщины-добровольца, женщины-солдата и женщины-командира стал культурно, социально и психологически возможным? Как менялись фронтовые отношения между женщинами и мужчинами, а также гендерные представления в армии и обществе в целом во время и после войны? Книга Анны Крыловой дает ответы на эти вопросы.

Lea Koenig, one of the most loved and appreciated Jewish actresses among audiences and critics alike, sat down with Dr. Yaniv Goldberg for conversations about theater and life. In the conversations, Lea talks about her experiences from World War II, life in a communist regime, the choice not to have children, her professional path, and her way of working on roles. She also discusses the choice to give up her mother tongue, Yiddish, and perform in Hebrew. Lea shares her perspective on Judaism, Zionism, and Israeliness, and about the way she observes the world.

In an exciting and humorous way, Lea recalls defining moments of her life, difficult moments and happy ones, weaves memory after memory, and discovers how life and the theater are intertwined, and as Shakespeare's cliché says, indeed, the whole world is a stage.

This story is the stage of the life of the great Israeli actress Lea Koenig.

And if you look closely, the tale reflects the stage of our lives...

In the early twentieth century, when the dream of Jewish cultural nationalism in the Diaspora was growing among champions for Yiddish, its leading intellectuals included the “Yiddish historians” who helped to uncover the history of East-European Jews. Before the Holocaust, their mission was to discover and present the formative history of a living people for an audience of educated lay leaders, drawing where possible on Jewish sources of information, in order to help build and fortify a Yiddish-speaking nation. After the Holocaust, their mission became to console its surviving remnant with information about the struggle to survive under German occupation. This book makes Yiddish writings by these historians available in English for the first time.

The book also includes a revealing Conversation with Series Editor Michael Berenbaum and an informative foreword by Samuel Kassow.

Why did more than 15,000 people from the former Soviet bloc join ISIS - nearly a third of the group's foreign fighters?

In Goodbye, ISIS: What Remains is Future, award-winning journalist Katerina Sergatskova investigates one of the most underexplored chapters of global terrorism. Drawing on years of reporting across Georgia, Turkey, Iraq, and Ukraine, she traces the personal stories of ISIS recruits, their families, and even those falsely accused of affiliation.

Through vivid interviews and groundbreaking reporting, Sergatskova reveals how post-Soviet fighters shaped ISIS, how the movement spread into the Caucasus, and why Ukraine has become an unexpected landing place for some of its veterans. Alongside this narrative, she connects today's extremist networks to earlier figures like Dzhokhar Dudayev and Shamil Basayev, showing how past conflicts laid the groundwork for ISIS's reach.

Both deeply human and geopolitically urgent, Goodbye, ISIS challenges assumptions about terrorism, migration, and security in the post-Soviet world - and why understanding it matters for global stability.

A Kirkus Best Indie Book of the Year & a Library Journal Best World Literature read, from Pulitzer Prize-winning AP Journalist and Director/Producer/Writer of the Academy Award-winning documentary 20 Days in Mariupol

“[A] book for our times—vivid enough to grab us and not let go.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"A powerful psychological thriller about borderline situations in life, hopes and dreams. Written against the backdrop of the war, before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the story acquires an additional passionate and humanistic significance." — Andrey Kurkov, author of Grey Bees

“[T]his timely novel from a Ukrainian author excels at examining the connection between reality and dreams and exploring the effects of war on the human psyche.” — Library Journal

The Dreamtime is a fusion of documentary and military fiction inspired by the author’s experience as an award-winning war correspondent that offers a unique and gritty point of view on the horrors of war through four intertwining narratives. Parallel storylines from a guilt-ridden doctor trying to exorcise his demons by exposing himself to war; a young woman tending to her ailing father as the bombs fall around them in Russian-occupied Slovyansk; a mysterious sociopath playing a cat-and-mouse game; and a forensic expert solving a murder case while trying to save her marriage with a discharged soldier bring a raw intensity and a deeply personal connection to the effects of war. As the threads of their stories unfurl, through harrowing scenes of personal and collective trauma, an enigmatic pattern emerges.

Shifting from Ukraine's war-torn Donbas to southern Europe and southeast Asia, The Dreamtime ties together themes of existential conflict, the blurred line between reality and dreams, and how easily the boundary dissolves between waking life and nightmare. Originally published in Kyiv in 2020, The Dreamtime has been well received by critics around the world and praised for its realism in depicting war, for its creative literary depiction of how dreams reflect the psyche, and for its masterly prose.

Nationalism’s global resurgence has upended societies. With the rise of the Polish nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party, and American Jewry’s swift reaction to its law punishing people who allege Polish complicity in Holocaust crimes, both sides have revived old stereotypes. Stark-Blumenthal argues that American Jews’ disgust with Polish nationalism ought to be checked by America’s centuries-old embrace of white supremacy. Poles and Jews: A Call for Myth Reconstruction confronts both the anti-Polonism deeply embedded in the American Jewish community and Poland’s enduring relationship with antisemitism. Armed with two decades of research and in-depth interviews with scholars, community leaders, and laity in Poland and the U.S., Stark-Blumenthal dispels myths and considers new approaches to this relationship.

“Bethea’s book conveys the story of an amazingly ambitious attempt to preserve the humanities while also saving the future of disadvantaged high school students in Chicago. … Highly recommended.” — Library Journal (starred review)

Building Bridges Among Abraham’s Children honors the extraordinary career of Professor Michael Berenbaum, a luminary in Holocaust studies, museum design, filmmaking, and interfaith dialogue. With contributions from renowned scholars and close friends, the short and highly readable essays in this collection delve into the core themes that have defined Professor Berenbaum’s work: biblical and postbiblical narratives, rabbinic thought and action, Jewish commitment to education, interreligious relations, and Holocaust remembrance. From his role in building the US Holocaust Memorial Museum to his pioneering work in preserving survivor testimonies through film, Professor Berenbaum’s influence is profound and multifaceted, and the compelling essays in this volume serve as a tribute to a scholar whose enduring legacy continues to make a global impact.

Mark Neider, a young Ukrainian-born American IT specialist, finds himself in crime-ridden Yeltsin’s Russia, hot on the trail of wheeler dealers who swindled him out of a small fortune back in New York. In Moscow, Mark survives an aborted coup in October 1993 and encounters a mysterious stranger who claims to have had a hand in the recent constitutional crisis. Tasha, Mark’s Moscow daredevil girlfriend, helps him retrieve the money at a significant body count, but Mark is only allowed to leave the country with 10K, a mere fraction of the loot now in his possession. Tasha and her film scholar aunt hatch a plan. Tasha’s aunt keeps the money while her wealthy Chicagoan ex disburses the equivalent amount to Mark in return for Mark’s interviewing the elderly sister of Greg Davis, an American film director who is the subject of Tasha’s aunt’s scholarly interest. But there’s more than meets the eye to Greg Davis’s sister who takes Mark on a journey he may or may not return from.

ENG:

Up to now, the conflict has been highly dynamic: militarily and politically. Ambitions, objectives, and achievements have been as dynamic as the policy of the stakeholders involved. While not a military player itself, the EU has appeared as a significant actor by aiding the Ukrainian war effort, supporting refugees, sanctioning Russia, and turning Ukraine into one of the candidates for EU membership.

Our ambition with this reader is to track these developments concerning the key aspects of the war from a European perspective. Beyond the causes and consequences of the war, we should explore how Europe, and more specifically, the EU perform in the conflict, which will determine the future of our continent in many ways.

UKR:

Жінки та війна. Листи з України до вільного світу

EN:

"This book is the story of 38 Ukrainian women who have decided to choose what they want to become, and it will grip and inspire you from first page to last." — Stephen Fry 

What kind of letter would one write to those who live in peace and freedom and do not know what war is? Forty Ukrainian women between the ages of 10 and 72 have answered this question by writing letters that are now available in all their power. Heartbreaking, but also passionate, surprising, and inspiring stories about parents who desperately drive for days to get children to safety. Couples split by the war hug one last time at the border in heart-wrenching goodbyes, wondering if they will see each other again. Young women decide to fight at the front against the invaders. These are the voices of a people ready to do anything to protect freedom and democracy.

UA: 

«Ця книжка — історії 38 українських жінок, які вирішили обрати, ким вони хочуть стати, і вона захопить і надихне вас від першої до останньої сторінки». — Стівен Фрай, британський актор і письменник

Якого листа написати тим, хто живе в мирі та волі й не знає, що таке війна? Тридцять вісім українок віком від 10 до 72 років зробили це, розповівши свої історії, які тепер декількома мовами доступні ширшому загалу. Карколомні, але водночас потужні, дивовижні та захопливі історії. Про батьків, які відчайдушно намагалися убезпечити дітей. Про пари, котрі, роз’єднані війною, востаннє обіймалися на кордоні, болісно прощаючись, і думаючи, чи побачать одне одного знову. Про молодих жінок, що вирішують воювати на фронті проти загарбників. Ці листи – голоси людей, готових діяти для захисту свободи та демократії.

ENG

Aside from the near-complete devastation of a sovereign state and reversal of the global balance of power, the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 is leading to a radical transformation in the Eastern European and Eurasian regions – including Russia itself.

The 13 chapters in this volume examine the main geopolitical consequences of the resurgent imperialist aspirations of the Russian Federation. They examine the ideological tools of history falsification as an integral part of hybrid warfare. Turning to the economy, the book discusses how the war and economic sanctions imposed on Russia are redrawing the geopolitical map and how economic relations would change following a regime transformation. The book discusses the reactions of members of the international community to the invasion, whether threatened or neutral parties or allies. The collection therefore offers a comprehensive picture of the main consequences of the resurgent imperialist aspirations of the Russian Federation. Equipped with the conceptual tools of the analysis with a focus on the patronal features of the political-economic system, the book considers the aftermath of the war.

This collection complements the book entitled Ukraine's Patronal Democracy and the Russian Invasion.

UA

Pосійське повномаштабне вторгнення в Україну 2022 року стало причиною радикальних перетворень у східноєвропейському та євразійському регіонах, зокрема й перетворень у самій Росії. У 13 розділах цього тому розглядаються основні геополітичні наслідки відродження імперіалістичних прагнень Російської Федерації. 

Застосовуючи концептуальний інструментарій аналізу з акцентом на патрональних рисах політико-економічної системи, автори досліджують ідеологічні інструменти фальсифікації історії як невід’ємну частину гібридної війни, аналізують як війна та економічні санкції, накладені на Росію, трансформують геополітичну мапу та як зміняться економічні відносини після трансформації режиму. У книзі також йдеться й про реакцію членів міжнародного співтовариства на вторгнення.

Ця збірка є продовженням до “Патрональної демократії в Україні та російського вторгнення. Російсько-українська війна. Том перший”.

The Magnificent Lies of Madeleine Béjart transports readers to 17th-century France, a time when the stage was as full of intrigue as the lives of those who performed on it.

At the heart of this richly imagined historical novel is Madeleine Béjart—a bold, ambitious actress and theatre director navigating the world of French theater alongside legends like Molière, Pierre and Thomas Corneille, and Tristan L’Hermite. Richard Goodkin masterfully weaves history with a tale of ambition, love, and deception. From tangled family ties and secret romances to hidden pregnancies and the ruthless pursuit of artistic success, Madeleine’s life is as dramatic as the plays she brings to life.

A gripping, unexpectedly humorous, and deeply human portrait of life in Ukraine reshaped by war. In this powerful collection of essays, writer Andriy Lyubka—thrust into the role of an unlikely volunteer—offers a firsthand account of delivering aid to the front lines.

With raw honesty and surprising wit, Lyubka captures both the absurdity and the heartbreak of war. He reflects on time lost, the emotional toll of conflict, and the everyday defiance that keeps hope alive. From the logistical nightmares of aid distribution to the rich aroma of coffee that briefly restores a soldier’s sense of normalcy, War from the Rear reveals a side of war rarely seen—the human side.

More than just a chronicle of conflict, this book is a tribute to the individuals who endure it, the bonds they build, and the acts of kindness that shine through even the darkest times. It’s an essential, unforgettable perspective on Ukraine’s ongoing fight that will stay with readers long after the final page.

The Stakes of a Global War is a compelling collection of editorial articles spanning over two decades, from 1999 to 2025, by one of the bravest and most insightful commentators writing on Russia today, Andrei Piontkovsky. This powerful work dissects the rise of "Putinism" and its profound impact on Russia and the world stage.

Piontkovsky, a Russian scientist and political writer, offers a sharp, polemical analysis of Vladimir Putin's presidency, tracing Russia's shift from a nascent "New Russia" to an aggressive, authoritarian state. From early warnings about totalitarian tendencies to stark predictions of war, the book chronicles events like the Chechen conflict, the annexation of Crimea, and the escalating tensions leading to a global crisis. With a keen eye for political maneuvering and societal shifts, Piontkovsky's writings delve into the Kremlin's strategies, the manipulation of public opinion, and the West's complex relationship with Russia. The Stakes of a Global War also examines the 2024 US presidential election and its implications for international relations, alongside the ongoing war in Ukraine. Featuring a preface by Kremlin critic Leonid Nevzlin, this book provides a critical perspective on contemporary history, offering insights into the forces shaping our world and the high stakes of global conflict. Piontkovsky's work is both a historical record and a prophetic warning, challenging readers to confront the realities of power and the fragility of peace.

Discover a hidden masterpiece from one of history’s greatest writers—now available in its most complete and accessible form. Leo Tolstoy’s Writings for Young Children brings to light Leo Tolstoy’s revolutionary contributions to childhood literacy, a project he considered one of his most significant achievements.

Between War and Peace and Anna Karenina, Tolstoy dedicated himself to the cause of education, opening a school on his Yasnaya Polyana estate and developing an innovative approach to teaching literacy. His carefully crafted collection of stories, fables, and historical lessons—designed to engage young minds—became a cornerstone of Russian primary education for decades. For the first time, this volume presents a complete, annotated translation of all 300 stories from Tolstoy's New ABC Book and four Primers for Reading faithfully preserving his original vision. 

A must-have for scholars of Russian literature, educators, parents, and history enthusiasts, Leo Tolstoy’s Writings for Young Children offers a rare glimpse into the mind of a literary giant as he sought to transform the way children learn to read. Whether you are a student of Tolstoy’s works or a champion of literacy, this essential volume belongs on your bookshelf.

In this poignant and darkly humorous memoir, Sonya Vesterholt recounts her experiences growing up in Leningrad during the Stalin era and the post-Stalin "thaw."

This collection of memories, stories, and jokes conveys personal experiences of historical events in the Soviet Union. Characters collide with the oppressive state espionage system that interferes in their personal lives and explore key moments from the author’s childhood and youth. With both humor and bitterness, readers discover Sonya’s routine heroism and resistance to state power as well as ironic details of everyday life. Under these circumstances, something as seemingly straightforward as a short message about the dog’s health becomes a symbol of victory over fear and absurdity.

Патрональна демократія в Україні та російське вторгнення. Російсько-українська війна. Том перший

The authors of this edited volume, leading Ukrainian scholars supplemented by colleagues from Hungary, examine the chances of an anti-patronal transformation after the war. The book provides an overview of the development of Ukraine's political-economic system: color revolutions in 2004 and 2014 brought democratic transformation, but no change in the patronage system The result was patronal regime cycles instead of the emergence of a Western-type liberal democracy in the country. Building on the conceptual framework of the editors' The Anatomy of Post-Communist Regimes (CEU Press, 2020), the 12 chapters examine the impact of the war on patronal democracy, the relational economy, clientelist society, and the international environment in which Ukraine operates.

This collection is complemented by the book entitled Russia's Imperial Endeavor and Its Geopolitical Consequences, forthcoming in Ukrainian translation as well.

UA: Російське повномасштабне вторгнення загрожує незалежності України та прозахідному розвитку, проте героїзм українського народу та зміцніла національна ідентичність створює безпрецедентно потужне підґрунтя для повороту на Захід. Після перемоги пріоритетом стане побудова міцних основ ліберальної демократії. Окрім розв’язання невідкладних проблем, Україна також має переглянути свою посткомуністичну спадщину та подолати обмеження патроналізму.

Автори цього видання, провідні українські науковці та їхні колеги з Угорщини, досліджують шанси антипатрональної трансформації після війни. У книзі представлено огляд розвитку політико-економічної системи України: кольорові революції 2004 та 2014 років принесли демократичні перетворення, але не змінили систему патронажу, а результатом революцій стали цикли патронату замість появи ліберальної демократії західного типу. Спираючись на концептуальну основу «Анатомії посткомуністичних режимів» (CEU Press, 2020) Балінта Мадяра та Балінта Мадловіча, автори 12 розділів досліджують вплив війни на патрональну демократію, економіку відносин, клієнтелістське суспільство та міжнародне середовище, в якому перебуває та діє Україна.

Ця серія доповнена збіркою «Російська імперія та її геополітичні наслідки», що також буде доступна в українському перекладі.

EN: The unanticipated and unsolicited Russian aggression against Ukraine in February 2022 highlighted the urgency of updating general assumptions about post-communist countries. The war has revealed the inadequacy of the terms and concepts employed for western democracies for describing, understanding, and predicting the developments in the “hybrid” regimes of Eastern Europe and the former USSR. Magyar and Madlovics strongly argue for a vocabulary and grammar tailored to the specifics of the countries of the former communist bloc. In this concise companion to the 800-page The Anatomy of Post-Communist Regimes (CEU Press, 2020), they develop a conceptual framework in 120 propositions with (1) a typology of post-communist regimes and (2) a detailed presentation of ideal-type actors and the political, economic, and social phenomena in these regimes. Each of the 120 propositions contains a statement and a succinct discussion supported by illustrative tables, figures, and QR-codes that connect the interested reader to the more detailed analysis in the Anatomy. In a condensed form, the holistic approach of the Anatomy is retained by treating political, market, and communal spheres as parts of a single, coherent whole. An analysis of twelve countries illustrates the concrete application of the method. 

UA: Неочікувана та неспровокована агресія Росії проти України в лютому 2022 року підкреслила необхідність оновлення загальних уявлень про посткомуністичні країни. Війна оприявнила неадекватність термінів і понять, які використовуються для опису західних демократій, розуміння та прогнозування розвитку подій гібридних режимів Східної Європи та колишнього СРСР. Мадьяр і Мадловіч рішуче пропонують терміни й граматику, що адаптовані до специфіки країн колишнього комуністичного блоку. У цьому короткому путівнику до 800-сторінкової «Анатомії посткомуністичних режимів» (CEU Press, 2020) вони розробляють концептуальну основу у 120 положеннях із (1) типологією посткомуністичних режимів і (2) детальним представленням акторів ідеального типу, а також та політичних, економічних та соціальних явищ у цих режимах. Кожне зі 120 положень супроводжується коментарем, ілюстративними таблицями, малюнками та QR-кодами, які залучать зацікавленого читача до більш детального аналізу. У стислому вигляді цілісний підхід анатомії зберігається завдяки розгляду політичної, ринкової та комунальної сфер як частин єдиного, узгодженого цілого. Аналіз дванадцяти країн ілюструє конкретне застосування методу. 

EN: Based on extensive field work, this book analyzes how ISIS – a widely hated, massively outnumbered, and ludicrously outgunned organization – managed to occupy over 120 cities, towns, and villages from the Southern Philippines to Western Libya. Seeking to understand ISIS’s combat effectiveness, Omar Ashour focuses on the military and tactical innovations of ISIS and their predecessors in Iraq, Syria, Libya, and Egypt. The author explains how their capacity to mix conventional military tactics with innovative guerrilla warfare and urban terrorism strategies allowed ISIS to expand and endure beyond expectations. This Ukrainian translation is supplemented by a special introduction on Russia’s war against Ukraine and the ISIS tactics adoption by Russian troops (2014-2022).

UA: Ґрунтуючись на значній кількості польових досліджень, автор аналізує, як ІДІЛ, така ненависна, нечисельна та погано озброєна організація, змогла окупувати понад 120 міст, містечок і сіл від південних Філіппін до західної Лівії. Прагнучи зрозуміти боєздатність ІДІЛ, Омар Ашур аналізує військові та тактичні інновації ІДІЛу та їхніх попередників в Іраку, Сирії, Лівії та Єгипті. Автор пояснює, як поєднання конвенційної та партизанської війни, а також стратегій міського тероризму дозволили ІДІЛ розширитися та вистояти попри всі обставини. Український переклад доповнено спеціальним вступом про війну Росії проти України та застосування російськими військами тактик ІДІЛ (2014-2022). 

It is 1918 in Moscow. The communist revolution is in full swing. Food is scarce, living conditions harsh. Two women meet on the stage of an empty theater. One is the now famous twenty-six-year-old poet Maria Tsvetaeva, the other the twenty-four-year-old actress Sonia Holliday (Sonechka).The Story of Sonechka, written almost twenty years later, is a vivid account, at once comic and tragic, of their love for each other. A previously untranslated masterpiece (Dmitry Bikov calls it “one of the five best books in world literature”), it stands as a testament to the artistry with which Tsvetaeva wrote prose; the vicissitudes of her life, love, and work; and the intense dynamics of Moscow culture in the wake of the Revolution. It also constitutes an exceedingly rare and early example of queer prose literature originally written in Russian.

During World War II, thousands of Moldovan Jews were imprisoned in the Obodovka ghetto, located in the Romanian-occupied part of Ukraine. Unlike the areas under German control where Jews faced systematic extermination, survival rates were marginally higher under Romanian occupation, as soldiers there did not pursue mass executions with bullets. Despite this, most of the ghetto's inhabitants succumbed to starvation and disease during the harsh first winter. Journalist Julie Masis captures this lesser-known chapter of the Holocaust through the memories of her grandfather Shlomo Masis, a survivor who lived to the remarkable age of 102. His recollections reveal stories of resilience, including how some Ukrainians aided the Jews in the ghetto. Masis also delves into a poignant family legend about a German medic who reportedly fell in love with her Jewish grandmother. This narrative sheds light on both the horrors and the unexpected human connections that emerged during one of history's darkest periods.

This compelling family history spans from the 1890s to the 21st century, weaving personal stories into the broader fabric of German history to reveal a deeply moving account of survival, courage, and resilience. At the heart of this narrative is Paul Bernstein, a Jewish WWI veteran who was awarded for his bravery but ultimately perished in Auschwitz in 1944, and his wife, Johanna Moosdorf, a non-Jewish woman who fought tirelessly to protect their family. Their two half-Jewish children, Barbara and Thomas, born in the late 1930s, faced constant danger during WWII. Yet, thanks to Johanna’s courageous efforts and Nazi policies that treated half-Jews differently, the children survived the war.

With a powerful epilogue that reflects on Germany’s response to its Nazi past and its relevance to contemporary far-right movements, including those in the U.S., this book offers a timely perspective on history’s echoes in today’s world. This unforgettable story captures a family’s fight for survival amidst one of history’s darkest chapters, making it an essential read for anyone interested in personal stories of resistance and the enduring lessons of the past.

Arguably the most authoritative English translation of Poland’s great national poem.  

Sometimes called the “last epos in world literature,” Pan Tadeusz (first published in Paris in 1834) is a classic tale of romance, mystery, war, and patriotism set in the turbulent Napoleonic era. The old Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth lies dismembered and erased from the political map of Europe by the great powers of Russia, Prussia, and Austria. A brief ray of hope rekindles national aspirations when Napoleon Bonaparte establishes the Grand Duchy of Warsaw by the terms of the Treaty of Tilsit (1807) and sets the stage for his invasion of Russia.

Marta dreamed of an extraordinary life: she wanted to conquer the world, she wanted to write. But the Second World War and Holocaust destroyed everything. Marta's Notebooks tells the story of the one thing Marta wrote, decades after the war, when she was hospitalized in a psychiatric ward and suffering from deep depression. A close relationship developed between Marta and her psychiatrist, leading her to write her story: her poignant memoir, an intimate and historical document, is a testimony to a woman’s life and a place that was destroyed.

Marta’s Notebooks brings together three components: an authentic memoir written by Marta Wollner, a Holocaust survivor; a literary, fictive biography based on this diary; and an auto-fiction novella, the confession of her daughter reflecting on the profound impact of her mother’s trauma on her own life. Providing a unique approach to telling a survival story, Marta's Notebooks is a testament to the complex wounds trauma leaves behind.

The Destruction of Jewish Cemeteries in Poland offers a comprehensive examination of the history of Jewish cemeteries in Poland, shedding light on an overlooked aspect of Holocaust history. Beginning with the settlement of Jewish communities in Poland, the book covers the establishment and subsequent destruction of over 1,200 Jewish cemeteries within the country's present borders. Krzysztof Bielawski draws on meticulous research and firsthand experience to explore the complex dynamics behind the destruction, exposing the roles played by various actors. Through a detailed analysis of texts, iconographic sources, and archival materials, the book not only documents the destruction but also seeks to identify the perpetrators, challenging common misconceptions and offering a nuanced perspective on this dark chapter in history.

You may support the Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage, where the author works, at www.fodz.pl.

What was it like to work as a Jewish district attorney in provincial Soviet Ukraine in the post-Stalinist eras? What role did antisemitism and Holocaust memories play in solving and investigating the criminal cases? How does a detective’s mind work? The answers to these and many other fascinating questions are found in this book. Mikhail Goldis (1926-2020) worked as a detective and district attorney for 30 years in Ukraine and wrote his memoirs after immigrating to the US in 1993. Translated by Marat Grinberg, a prolific scholar of Russian and Jewish literature and cinema, the memoirs tell the rich and poignant story of Goldis’s life and what it took for a Jew to navigate and survive in the halls of Soviet power. 

End of Days is both a meditation on Jewish morality in the age of Israeli Jewish power, and a cri du coeur by an Orthodox Israeli Jew, a former combat officer in the IDF, for Israelis to look into the Jewish religious ethical tradition for an alternative to the secular and religious Zionism that sanctifies power, statehood, and sovereignty. Appealing to a wealth of Jewish sources from the Bible to the present, including medieval Jewish ethical literature, rabbinic sources, Jewish law, and contemporary Israeli thought, the book presents an argument against Israel’s occupation of the Palestinians and the suppression of their rights from the perspective of a modern Israeli religious Jew.

In this joint volume of Caucausian fiction, two friends from opposing sides of the unresolved Georgian-Abkhaz conflict join forces to craft a poignant anti-war narrative that spans borders and transcends political divides.

After finding themselves on opposing sides of a war-torn region, Guram Odisharia and Daur Nachkebia, once comrades in the Writers' Union, chose to collaborate and publish their respective novels under one cover in a powerful literary endeavor that’s now available in English. 

The President’s Cat from Georgian writer Guram Odisharia paints a vivid picture of Sukhumi, a once-exotic city-resort marred by the horrors of war. Against the backdrop of this surreal conflict, Odisharia's characters navigate the chaos with raw, palpable humanity.

In Daur Nachkebia’s The Shore of Night, the novel’s protagonist begins a soul-searching journey to understand the profound impact of conflict on human life after finding the diary of a friend who died in the war. Delving into the human experience and psyche against the backdrop of the Soviet empire’s collapse and the brutal war in Abkhazia, it explores the struggle to maintain individuality and expand personal horizons despite the confines of society. 

Exploring real tragedies of individuals caught in the zone of conflict, the nuances of peace and war in the South Caucasus, and the prospects of reconciliation in post-conflict regions, the collection Two Novels from the Caucasus is a testament to the enduring power of literature to bridge divides and illuminate universal truths.

An evocative, candid reveal of the media and design worlds by an award-winning journalist and activist urban planner in search of the soul of cities and himself.

From the stoops of Brooklyn and the streets of East Harlem to the newsrooms of New York and Los Angeles, from the freeways of Southern California to the shores of Malibu, An Urban Odyssey traverses the award-winning author’s seven decades in the media and the public and private sectors, as well as his time teaching and advocating for a more, equitable, livable city. Here, Sam Hall Kaplan regales readers with personal tales of his time at the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, and Fox Television, among others, interspersed with anecdotes of a host of the famed and ill-famed. A rollicking reveal of the vainglorious media and design worlds, candid and compelling.

Just how improbable can one man's survival story be? 

From evading the KGB and disassembling a downed American plane to narrowly escaping a life sentence in Siberia, Reuven Rashkovsky’s story is a gripping tale of coming of age, searching for belonging, and daring to escape the tightly controlled Soviet regime. Relayed in his point of view by his daughter, Dr. Karine Rashkovsky, An Improbable Life tells the story of a man who has been at the center of some of the most dramatic and tumultuous events in modern history, from World War II to the Six-Day War to the collapse of the USSR, providing insight into the world of Soviet Jewry and the almost insurmountable obstacles to getting out. Filled with quirky, revealing anecdotes, An Improbable Life is a valuable historical resource for anyone intrigued by culture and identity in the Soviet Union from the last days of Stalin to the Brezhnev era and the paradox and perils of being outcast—and possibly heroic—in that time and place. With the return of a totalitarian, imperialist Russia, Rashkovsky’s story is all too relevant to today’s struggles. Here is an improbable true story of what can indeed, be possible.

"Barasch Rubinstein... does a marvelous job of bringing to vivid life the political and cultural landscape of Israel during terribly turbulent years." — Kirkus

In the 1980s, two childhood friends from Jerusalem establish a medical equipment startup. Their hunger for success propels them to professional heights but erodes the emotional affinity between them. While the firm grows and does exceptionally well, personal conflicts between the two, symbolic of a social change, threaten to undermine their achievements. Spanning from 1968 until 2016, the plot follows the two entrepreneurs against the backdrop of Israeli history. Tensions between Sephardi and Ashkenazi Israelis, military conflicts, and, most importantly, the profound consequences—both positive and negative—of embracing capitalist values shape the lives of the protagonists. Intimate Solitude offers a distinct perspective on the changing nature of Israeli society, uncovering social and political undercurrents.  

Captivated at a young age by Russia, Marianna Tax Choldin immersed herself as a student at the University of Chicago in that country’s language and culture.

“A compassionate rendering of acclimation and its many challenges.” — Booklist

This bold debut collection of stories follows the lives of those displaced by the Bolshevik Revolution and their descendants, shining a light on the lasting impact of displacement and the resiliency of the human spirit.

Norwegian diplomat Fridtjof Nansen created a passport for stateless persons used by refugees as a valid travel document from 1922-1937. The world is all too aware of what has happened to Russia in the century since then—Lenin, Stalin, and now Putin with his iron-fist policies and invasion of Ukraine. But what about the aristocrats whose ancestors governed Russia before Communism? How did they fare in displacement? Civil War, Red Terror, and Bolshevik rule caused over one million to flee Russia. Written by the daughter of one such émigré, The Nansen Factor traces the lives of these refugees and their descendants across a century of upheaval and displacement. From the turmoil of the Bolshevik Revolution to the echoes of the past in modern-day America, these interconnected tales vividly portray the resilience of individuals uprooted by history at a moment when migrants are once again on the move in search of refuge, highlighting how the pain of losing one’s homeland may fade, but the injury to the psyche is slow to heal.

The remarkable, untold story of one Holocaust survivor's resilience against all odds, discovered through a chance encounter with a collection of her wartime poetry.

Originally from Nuremberg, Germany, Else Dormitzer dedicated much of her life to combating antisemitism in a city that became synonymous with Nazi propaganda and spectacle in the Third Reich. Drawing on materials from the family’s extensive personal archive, Traces of Memory follows her life from pre-war Nuremberg to war-torn Amsterdam, from the confines of the Theresienstadt ghetto to post-war life in London. The result is a deeply personal story of a woman at the margins of memory. Accompanied by historical photographs, the book includes Dormitzer’s original poetry collection from Theresienstadt and three testimonial accounts of her Holocaust experience to keep alive the work and story of a singular woman.

The reception of the American poet Walt Whitman has been a global phenomenon. It is central to the history of modern poetry, but it goes beyond literary stakes: Whitman’s proclaimed heirs often saw him as a prophet of a new world. This book focuses on the Russian and Soviet uses of the poet, showing how they contributed to his transformation into a revolutionary and communist icon, especially in the US and in Latin America. It illuminates circuitous routes of translations and interpretations between the Soviet Union, Europe and the Americas. It covers a vast linguistic scope, including Yiddish and various languages of the Russian and Soviet empires.

An evocative collection of vignettes and essays from Ukraine’s “voice” of classical antiquity, now available in English for the first time.

Inspired by Virgil’s exquisitely ambivalent phrase “sunt lacrimae rerum” (there are tears of/for/in things), Andriy Sodomora, the Ukrainian “voice” of classical antiquity, has produced a series of original vignettes and essays about things: the big things in our lives (like happiness, loneliness, and aging); the small things we do or see daily, rarely paying attention to them (like a tree’s shadow or the kernels on an ear of corn); and the things (i.e., objects) to which we form connections. The selected stories presented here are the first English translations of Sodomora’s profoundly intellectual and intertextual prose. Through his nostalgic memories and recollections, Sodomora takes readers on a journey through western Ukraine, as well as through world literature, from ancient Greece and Rome to the poetry of Paul Verlaine and Federico García Lorca.

This book has been published with the support of the Translate Ukraine Translation Program.

Completed shortly before Hamas carried out its barbaric October massacre, Hate Speech and Academic Freedom takes up issues that have consequently gained new urgency in the academy worldwide. It is the first book to ask what impact antisemitism has had on the fundamental principles the academy relies on for its identity—academic freedom, free speech rights, standards for hiring or firing faculty members and administrators, and the ethics of academic conduct and debate. Antisemitic hatred is spreading at a fever pitch. What steps can counter it? What damage to students is done when departments embrace anti-Zionism? Should faculty members face consequences for promoting antisemitism on social media? Should universities make a new push to adopt the IHRA Definition of Antisemitism?

This volume includes many of the best essays by Catharine Theimer Nepomnyashchy (1951-2015), one of the most original scholars of Russian culture of her generation. Nepomnyashchy’s broad interests ranged from Pushkin to contemporary Russian popular culture. Her work speaks to issues that remain central to Slavic studies today, including imperialist impulses and rhetoric in Russian culture; the resiliency and post-Soviet afterlife of Stalinist mythic and cultic formulas; and problems connected with dissent, censorship, and displacement. In addition to some of Nepomnyashchy’s best previously published scholarly work, this volume includes excerpts from The Politics of Tradition: Rerooting Russian Literature After Stalin, the book manuscript that Nepomnyashchy was working on in the last years of her life.

Israel and the Nations: The Bible, The Rabbis, and Jewish-Gentile Relations explores the Jewish theology and law (Halakhah) relating to non-Jews. It analyzes biblical, talmudic, medieval, and contemporary Jewish writings about gentiles and their religions.

The Bible challenges the Jewish people to be “a blessing for all the families of the earth.” Yet throughout history, Jewish experience with gentiles was complex. In the biblical and talmudic eras most gentiles were assumed to be idolators. In the Middle Ages most rabbis considered their Christian neighbors idolators, and Christian enmity sharpened the otherness Jews felt toward their Christian hosts. Muslims were monotheists, but Jewish-Muslim relations were sometimes positive and at other times difficult. With the advent secular tolerance in modernity, Jews found themselves in a new relationship with their gentile neighbors. How should Jews relate to gentiles today, and what are the bounds of Jewish tolerance and religious pluralism?

The book will interest both Jewish laypersons familiar with Jewish tradition as well as scholars of theology and interfaith relations

“An impressively researched and surprisingly accessible portrait of Jewish life in the mid-19th century.” — Kirkus Reviews

Set in Ukraine and Crimea, this unique autobiography offers a fascinating, detailed picture of life in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Tsarist Russia. Goldenshteyn (1848-1930), a traditional Jew who was orphaned as a young boy, is a master storyteller. Folksy, funny, streetwise, and self-confident, he is a keen observer of nineteenth-century Eastern Europe, both Jewish and non-Jewish. His accounts are vivid and readable, sometimes stunning in their intensity. 

The memoir is brimming with information; his adventures shed light on communal life, persecution, family relationships, religious practices and beliefs, social classes, local politics, interactions between Jews and other religious communities (including Muslims, who formed the majority of Crimea’s populace), epidemics, poverty, competition for resources, migration, war, modernity and secularization, holy men and charlatans, acts of kindness and acts of treachery. In chronicling his own life, Goldenshteyn inadvertently tells a bigger story—the story of how a small, oppressed people, among other minority groups, struggled for survival in the massive Russian Empire.

Until now, only a small circle of Yiddish-speaking scholars had access to this extremely significant primary source. This translation is a game-changer, making this treasure trove of information accessible to academics and ordinary readers alike. Informed by research in Ukrainian, Israeli, and American archives and personal interviews with the few surviving individuals who knew Goldenshteyn personally, The Shochet is a magnificent new contribution to Jewish and Eastern European history.

Hebrew University Professor Emeritus and Israel Prize recipient Eliezer Schweid (1929-2022) is widely regarded as one of the greatest historians of Jewish thought of our era. In Siddur Hatefillah, he probes the Jewish prayer book as a reflection of Judaism's unity and continuity as a unique spiritual entity; and as the most popular, most uttered, and internalized text of the Jewish people. Schweid explores texts which process religious philosophical teaching into the language of prayer, and/or express philosophical ideas in prayer’s special language – which the worshipper reflects upon in order to direct prayer, and through which flows hoped-for feedback. With the addition of historical, philological, and literary contexts, the study provides the reader with first-time access to the comprehensive meaning of Jewish prayer—filling a vacuum in both the experience and scholarship of Jewish worship.

This volume is an annotated collection of original, informative, and moving photographs of the twins who survived the brutal medical experiments conducted at the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp (1943-1945). The experiments were conducted by the infamous physician, Josef Mengele. These never-before-seen photographs were taken by the author (Segal) at the 40th anniversary of the camp’s liberation (January 27, 1985) and the public hearing on Mengele’s crimes at Yad Vashem (Hand and Name) in Jerusalem that followed. Other memorable moments, captured in photographs include traveling to Krakow, visiting Warsaw and hearing survivors’ testimonies. The photographs are organized into ten sections that unfold chronologically—each section is accompanied by a brief essay to provide compelling context and each photograph has an informative caption.

Dovlatov and Surroundings is a literary ode by one of the most consequential late 20th-century Russian writers, Alexander Genis, to another: Sergei Dovlatov. Though the book’s focus is ostensibly the man himself, the text unfolds as a comprehensive look at the Soviet, post-Soviet, and American cultures that shaped him and which he shaped. Dovlatov and Surroundings constantly, but effortlessly shifts its focus from the intimate to the sweeping, as Genis’s reflections on his friendship with Dovlatov organically give way to recollections about diaspora life, which transition smoothly into analyses of language, culture, politics, and literature. Characterized by Genis as an obituary, this book makes plain the significance of Dovlatov to Russian literature and the nuances of the Soviet cultural heritage.

It is human nature to want to fit in. The lengths people have gone to do so have provided creative minds with material for centuries. This book explores the consequences of being marked an outsider in the Russian-speaking world through a close study of several seminal works of Russian literature. The author combines the fields of literary studies, linguistics, and sociology to illuminate what prompted Christof Ruhl, an economist at the World Bank, to comment, about Russia, “On a very broad scale, it’s a country where people care about their family and friends. Their clan. But not their society.”

Translated for the first time in English, Lev Levanda's brilliant coming-of-age story of Russian Jewish students on the cusp of modernity in their struggle against religious chauvinism and an oppressive government.

Despite being Russia's best Jewish writer of the nineteenth century, Lev Levanda (1835–1888) is barely known in the English-speaking world, with some of his most famous works, like the 1873 novel Seething Times, having yet to be published in their entirety. Another such work is An Amateur Performance (Reminiscences of a Student in the 1850s), which appears here in English for the first time, translated with elegance by Hugh McLean and edited by Brian Horowitz and Conor Daly. A classic in Russian-Jewish literature from 1882, An Amateur Performance describes the rush by Jews to government schools, secular education, and the lights of enlightenment, while also revealing the struggles of these Jewish students on the cusp of modernity, including keen observations on their lack of preparation, their confusion over the new ideas, and their confrontation with the repressive power of the Russian government. In short, it’s a brilliant sociological study of Russian Jewry in the 1850s as remembered by a writer who fought for progress and Jewish integration.