Robin Milner-Gulland

When I got into university, I was infected with the Russia-virus and bought / found / lent books to read and learn more about that enourmous country that had (already) such a turbulent history.

This book was one of them. I liked it, although I dodn't love it as much as [b:A Day in the Life of the Soviet Union|171150|A Day in the Life of the Soviet Union|Rick Smolan|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172385929s/171150.jpg|287590]. I know it is not fair to compare these two books, but I can't help doing so.

This 'Atlas' tells me about the history, people, art, culture of Moscovia / Russia / Soviet Union in text, interspersed with maps, pictures, graphics and tables. It takes a lot more to carefully read the texts and all the additions than it takes to look at a full-page-size picture with only two lines: the subject and the name of the photographer.
The latter was an easy read / view and appealed a lot to my curiosity to find out what was there behind that nearly impermeable border. This was more background info for classes on literature and history. Like I said, not fair to compare the two.

For all those who have an interest in Russia and its history I recommend this book.… (mehr)