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Travels in Russian History
by Rachel Polonsky
When the British journalist Rachel Polonsky moves to Moscow, she discovers an apartment on Romanov Street that was once home to the Soviet elite. One of the most infamous neighbors was the ruthless apparatchik, Stalin's henchman, Vyacheslav Molotov, who was a participant in the collectivizations and the Great Purge - and also an ardent bibliophile. In what was formerly his apartment, Polonsky uncovers an extensive library and an old magic lantern - two things that lead her on an extraordinary journey throughout Russia and ultimately renew her vision of the country and its people.
In Molotov's Magic Lantern, Polonsky visits the haunted cities and vivid landscapes of the books from Molotov's library: works by Chekhov, Dostoevsky, Pushkin, Akhmatova, and others, some of whom were sent to the Gulag by the very man who collected their books. With exceptional insight and beautiful prose, Polonsky writes about the longings and aspirations of these Russian writers and others in the course of her travels from the Arctic to Siberia and from the forests around Moscow to the vast steppes. A singular homage to Russian history and culture, Molotov's Magic Lantern evokes the spirit of the great artists and the haunted past of a country ravaged by war, famine, and totalitarianism.
"Cogently descriptive, empathic, plucky, and acerbic...what we see is an illuminated land of immense brutality and beauty, suffering and spirit." - Donna Seaman, Booklist
"In this sometimes entertaining and sometimes dreary book of travels, Polonsky uses the rotting pages of the books in Molotov's library as a guide..." - Publishers Weekly
"It's a gem ... [Polonsky] has achieved the unimaginable: a serious non-fiction account of Russia, which is as wide-ranging as it is entertaining...It’s a challenging and demanding read but one that is hugely rewarding." - Sunday Express
"As promising and enticing as a novel ... An unexpectedly delightful literary travelogue ... Polonsky is not so much a wanderer as a meanderer of the mind ...And Molotov's Magic Lantern is not a piece of history, nor of literary criticism, but a pocket torch shone into the nooks and crannies between the two." - The Sunday Times
"Polonsky's detail-studded hybrid of travelogue, biography and political and cultural history is dense and scholarly, and dares to lack a dominant propulsive narrative..." - Metro
“[An] elegant book ... This is a many-layered portrait in which the strands of Russia past and present, town and countryside, real and intellectual, are interwoven with skill and ... erudition." - The Independent (UK)
"Fascinating skatulochka—jewelery box—of Russian history ... Polonsky’s description of the far north of Russia made me long to visit, with its 'other-wordly' landscape. [Polonsky] achieves a more profound understanding of Putin’s Russia than many other foreign observers." - The Daily Telegraph (UK)
"Polonsky weaves an extraordinary web of connections between people, places and books...the command of detail is absolutely masterly." - The Sunday Telegraph (UK)
"Perceptive and erudite...a spectacular and enjoyable display of intellectual fireworks for the general reader...as her book shows, the author has grit, charm and style—and a gift for traveller’s tales." - The Economist (UK)
"Everywhere on this journey, Polonsky shows great curiosity about the web of personality and history, and the connections between power and literature that form Russian history and society today ... a luminous, charming and fascinating masterclass on literature, power, tragedy and death." - Simon Sebag Montefiore, Evening Standard (UK)
"[As] delicate and enriching as a Russian poem, and it will certainly make a new generation of visitors to Russia think more colourfully about Europe's closest, endlessly surprising, other." - Literary Review
This information about Molotov's Magic Lantern was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Rachel Polonsky has written for Prospect, The Guardian, The Times Literary Supplement, and The Spectator, among other publications. She is the author of English Literature and the Russian Aesthetic Renaissance and lives in Cambridge, England, with her family.
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