Denis Shaw is Reader in Russian Geography in the School of Geography and Associate Member of the Centre for Russian and East European Studies at the University of Birmingham. His previous books include "Planning in the Soviet Union" (with J. Pallot, 1981), "Landscape and Settlement in Romanov Russia 1613-1917" (with J. Pallot, 1990), and "The Post-Soviet Republics: A Systematic Geography" (Editor, 1995).