Once Upon a Russia

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Once Upon a Russia: Voices From a Vanished Era gathers over one hundred vivid, personal accounts from foreigners who lived, worked, or wandered through Russia during a time that now feels irretrievably past. Edited by Steven A. Fisher, who shared that journey with the contributors, this anthology captures not only the country's strange beauty and contradictions, but the emotional imprint it left on those who experienced it.

From diplomats and dreamers to journalists, bankers, artists, and students, each voice offers a unique window into the texture of Russian life-its unpredictable rhythms, ironies, absurdities, and quiet truths. These are not attempts to explain Russia, but acts of remembering: a kitchen table conversation, a snow-lit street, a baffling official exchange, a toast made in joy or defiance.

Poignant, humorous, and deeply human, these reflections reveal a country both maddening and magnetic-where memory and meaning continue to blur and where hope and disillusion live side by side. For those who were there, this book may feel like a reunion. For others, it offers rare insight into a vanished world that once marked them-and may yet mark you.