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Cadogan Central Asia --Giles Whittell guides you to the magical cities of Samarkand and Bokhara (among others), the mountains, deserts and tiny villages of the countryside, and makes sure you won't miss much in this increasingly accessible region. He provides sightseeing itineraries, a detailed survey of the history of the entire area, hotel and restaurant recommendations and all sorts of useful travel tips. It's like having a personal guided tour. $19.95
Cadogan Moscow and St Petersburg --One of the few guidebooks available to these cities, this book by Rose Baring provides good historical and political context, practical information of all kinds, including realistic assessments of hotels, restaurants, shopping and entertainment, and very detailed sightseeing, with walking tours in both cities. $17.95
NEW Eyewitness Travel Guide to Moscow--Arranged by neighborhood, this new volume is one of the few up-to-date guides available to Moscow. Filled with colorful graphics, well-written text and lots of maps, it covers all the sights in detail, with good historical background. Whether you have a few days or a few weeks to explore, it will guide you to the Kremlin, the Hermitage and all the smaller sights you may never have heard of. An excellent section in the back of the book offers reviews of hundreds of hotels, restaurants, nightspots and shops. $22.95
Also new to the series:
NEW Eyewitness Travel Guide to St. Petersburg $22.95
Fodor Exploring Moscow & St. Petersburg --Part of the AA Exploring series from Britain and distributed here by Fodor's, this guide offers detailed neighborhood by neighborhood sightseeing information. Driving itineraries, walking tours, numerous maps and a full-color format set these guides apart. Newly revised and great for route-planning. $22.00
Fodor's Moscow and St. Petersburg --A good general guidebook to this area, with an emphasis on practical advice on transportation and the best hotels, restaurants, shopping and nightlife. It also offers good sightseeing information and itineraries, as well as a few walking tours. $19.95
Knopf Guide to St. Petersburg --This volume contains more than 1,000 color illustrations that bring the arts, architecture, history and literature of St. Petersburg vibrantly to life. Whether you are an active or armchair traveller, browse through this lush guide and immerse yourself in the culture and sights of this memorable city. $25.00
Lonely Planet Baltic States --John Noble and two other authors guide you to Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, as well as the Kaliningrad region of Russia that is often referred to as "the fourth Baltic State". They provide comprehensive information on everything you need to know to travel in this recently independent region, from dealing with red tape and visas to planning an itinerary, finding accommodations and exploring capital cities, small villages and the beautiful Baltic coastline. Newly revised. $17.95
Lonely Planet Russia, Ukraine & Belarus --Richard Nebesky tells you everything you need to know for travel to all corners of the new Russia (including Siberia), the Ukraine and Belarus. Up-to-date, honest assessments of politics, transportation, accommodations and eating make this one of the best guides around. $27.95
Moscow Traveller's Yellow Pages --As the title suggests, this is not really a guidebook as much as a "yellow pages"-like resource for travellers, with addresses and phone and fax numbers for all sorts of s ervices in Moscow, from travel agencies to dry-cleaning to medical emergencies, as well as hotels and restaurants. $14.95
Also:
St Petersburg Yellow Pages $14.95
Rick Steves' Baltics & Russia --This guide works best as an itinerary planner that presents and rates the top sights, so that whether you have a few days or a few weeks to tour, you won't miss any of the main attractions. Steves' also lists hotels, restaurants and entertainment spots. $10.95
Rough Guide to St. Petersburg --The Rough Guides have made their reputation with scrupulously researched information and honest reviews of hotels, restaurants and nightspots. Their guide to St. Petersburg is no exception. It covers every corner of the city, neighborhood by neighborhood, with in-depth reports on the history, art history and architecture that make this city famous. The authors include excursions to the Imperial Palaces, Kronstadt and the Karelian Isthmus, and Novgorod, and a good set of maps. $14.95
also:
Rough Guide to Moscow $14.95
Russia By Rail --Athol Yates explains all the routes, from Moscow and St. Petersburg to Mongolia and the Trans-Siberian Railway. He covers all aspects of planning your trip, including ticket options, fares and insurance, and provides detailed descriptions of sights, stops and the trains themselves. All of the routes are clearly mapped. $16.95
Russian Far East Companion Guide --The first and only book of its kind, this guide by Erik Afanasev. covers the enormous, largely unknown region of Eastern Russia, from Siberia (including Lake Baikal) to Sakhalin Island. Sightseeing, transportation, accommodations, food and historical background are all provided here for the traveller who truly wishes to explore off the beaten path. $16.95
The Silk Route By Rail --Dominic Streatfield-James guides you to all 5000 miles of this famed route, from Beijing to the ancient Chinese capital of X'ian through Central Asia to Moscow. He includes all the practical information you need to travel by train in part or along the whole route, and provides kilometer by kilometer sightseeing and historical background, as well as 36 clear maps. $17.95
Trekking in Russia and Central Asia --If you have ever been lured by thoughts of travel to exotic, romantic-sounding places with names like Turkestan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan, you will be happy to know that your dream is within (relatively) easy reach. Frith Maier covers everything from easy walks in Crimea to climbing the Caucasus. She provides exact directions for 50 hikes of all lengths and levels of difficulty, with thorough advice on making travel arrangements, hiring guides, finding tour companies and accommodations along the way. She also includes a Russian language section for trekkers, and many detailed trail maps. Explore one of the last frontiers with a true expert. $16.95
Berlitz Russian Phrasebook $6.95
Berlitz Russian Cassette Pack ( one 90-minute tape and the above phrasebook) $15.95
Collins Gem Russian Dictionary (with a plastic waterproof cover) $5.95
Hippocrene Ukrainian/English English/Ukrainian Dictionary and Phrasebook $9.95
Lonely Planet Baltic States Phrasebook $5.95
Lonely Planet Russian Phrasebook $5.95
Lonely Planet Ukrainian Phrasebook $5.95
Rough Guide Russian Phrasebook (in dictionary form) $6.00
Baikal --Gorgeous color photographs of Lake Baikal are interspersed throughout this memoir of Peter Matthiessen's trip to Siberia, that also features his comments on the disastrous ecological problems facing Lake Baikal and the surrounding region. $18.00
Central Asia: A Traveller's Companion --Kathleen Hopkirk has incorporated a wealth of historical background and literary excerpts from travelogues, journals, fiction and essays into one extraordinary volume. Her selections and her commentary provide invaluable insights into the history, culture and geography of both the cities and countryside throughout Central Asia, and should be required reading for anyone travelling in this region. $19.95
Desert Road to Turkestan --First published in 1929, this is Owen Lattimore's account of his honeymoon with his wife Eleanor on a camel caravan along the Silk Road. Unfortunately for them both, caravan etiquette forces the newlyweds to travel separately through Mongolia to Chinese Turkestan. Lattimore must brave unfriendly soldiers, non-existent maps, untrustworthy guides and a blinding blizzard to be reunited with his bride. A legendary adventurer describes one of his most fascinating exploits. $16.00
The Great Game --Peter Hopkirk makes history come alive for Central Asia, that obscure, romantic-sounding region we've all heard of but know so little about. Filled with the wild escapades of the British and Russians in their race to control the valuable trade routes through the area at the turn of the century, this reads more like a novel than a history book. $17.00
Journey to Khiva --In 1990, Peter Glazebrook embarked upon a 4,000 mile journey through Central Asia, from the cities of Tashkent, Bokhara, Samarkand and Khiva to the remote countryside in between. Glazebrook's extensive knowledge of the area's history enables him to bring the past vividly to life and to juxtapose it with the nearly as vivid present. This is a truly wonderful travelogue. $15.00
Lost Fortune of the Tsars --How rich were the Romanov's and where did all their wealth go after the revolution? William Clarke, former financial editor at the London Times, investigates this mystery, combing state archives in Moscow and interviewing the scattered members of the Romanov dynasty. It is no wonder there was a revolution: Clarke likens the splendor of the Russian court to that of Louis XIV and V! Fascinating reading. $14.95
Russian Fairy Tales --Edited by Alexandre Afanase, this is a lovely collection of fairy tales from all over Russia, spanning centuries and every region on Russia. A delightful way to immerse yourself in the Russian character. $18.00
NEW A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush-- Originally published in 1958 and now back in print thanks to the dedicated people at Lonely Planet, this is explorer and travel writer Eric Newby’s classic account of a mountain climbing expedition to Nuristan--north-eastern Afghanistan-- in the remote heart of Central Asia. At a time when no other Englishmen had travelled in the region in over fifty years, Newby and his friend Hugh Carless, complete novices, had to apply as a mountain climbing expedition to gain access to the area. In great travel writing tradition, they trek across Central Asia and confront some rather intimidating mountains, as well as other hardships. This wonderful, funny book will enchant anyone with an interest in this still-wild region as well as anyone who simply enjoys a great story well-told. $12.95
St Petersburg: Tales of the City --Editor J. Miller has collected some of the most fascinating and varied writings on this city in one small, beautifully-bound volume. See St. Petersburg through the eyes of Leo Tolstoy, John Reed, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Edmund Wilson and Anna Akhmatova, among others, and enjoy the stories, poems, essays and diary entries before, during and after your trip. Cloth $13.95
Traveller's History of Russia and the CIS --Peter Neville has written a concise, readable history of Russia and the Independent States, from prehistoric times to the fall of communism and right up through 1997. A perfect companion for your long plane ride. Revised edition. $14.95
Wall to Wall --Mary Morris describes her 1986 trip on the Trans-Siberian Express through China, Russia and Eastern Europe. Her insights into the history and politics of Russia are combined with a search for her ancestral home in the Ukraine, and the outcome is a lovely memoir of both travel and family. $10.00