Most Americans' views on Russia are muddled. And while some might try to clear their confusion by picking up a history book or an academic tome, many will simply write this confusion off as unimportant-and miss out on the remarkable culture of Russia and the former Soviet Union.

Author Marshall A. Botkin, PhD, offers a fresh alternative. An American with Slavic roots, he began exploring the lands of his ancestors in the 1990s. Throughout his travels, he wrote short fiction as a unique way to journal about the people, places, and events he encountered. First writing only for himself, he...