This book examines Mikhail M. Speranskii's attempt to codify Russian law in the 1820 and 1830s -- that was the last major bureaucratic project of this important Russian statesman and an aspect of his long career that has been largely ignored by historians. Based on material from the Manuscript Division of the Russian National Library, the Russian State Historical Archives, and the Archives of the Academy of Sciences (all in St. Petersburg, Russia) a complete picture emerges of the codification efforts.

Soon after Marguerite Harrison's gripping autobiography was published, the New York Timescalled it the most interesting and valuable book available on contemporary Russia. Yet, inexplicably, the work has been out of print for 80 years.

First published in 1921, just months after Harrison's release from a Bolshevik prison. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of her entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and her increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her...