Remembering life under the Romanovs “With his eye for detail, his taste for anecdote, and his sheer delight in the process of living, Rodzianko has created a delightful, if often sad, work.”―Gary Saul Morson, from his new foreword for this first American edition "Capacious, powerful, and subtle—a forgotten work with real claims to historic interest and aesthetic value . . . It is Paradise Lost as told by Dostoevsky."—Washington Independent Review of Books Born into Russian aristocracy at the end of the 19th Century, Paul Rodzianko led a life rich in love, challenged by war, and inspired by great jumping horses. With humor and infectious joy, he recounts the adventures of his charmed childhood―playing with his cousins at the Winter Palace, riding horses at his family’s many country estates, and, most spectacularly, serving as a page in the court of Tsar Nicolas II. Then, on August 1, 1914, Russia and Germany declare war on each other, and, Rodzianko writes, “The hurricane descended and swept our world away.” Serving in the Chevalier Guards, he fights first against the Germans and then, after the Revolution, against the Reds in Siberia. He writes movingly about WWI and the Russian Civil War: the initial excitement about going to war and the grim realities, the frustrating shortages of munitions and the failures of the railroads, the shocking execution of the Romanovs, and the brutal deaths of millions of young men. Tattered Banners is an evocative and haunting account of a time and people that have continued to intrigue us for more than a century.

Social Worker Curtis Banner has contempt for his clients and his job, but the world is changing around him.

"Their tattered flags became the symbol of a defeated class, and Vandiver's description of aristocratic Southern leadership in crisis is a real contribution to the literature of the Civil War."--New York Times Book Review " . . . goes beyond the legendary heroism of the Lees and the Johnstons and the fabled soldiers in gray and shows how and why these men were unable to create an independent Southern nation."--Bruce Catton "A Southern mirror to Bruce Catton's splendid books on the Civil War . . . written with the pace of a Confederate infantry charge."--Robert K. Massie

In post-Soviet Russia’s transition to new political and economic systems, few issues are as important as labor. Although the “worker’s paradise” may have been largely imaginary, the loss of job security and benefits that has accompanied marketization could well become a catalyst for yet another political upheaval. In this timely book, Walter Connor explores how the Yeltsin government attempted to avoid this pitfall of system change. Connor examines Russia’s emergent labor politics in the critical first years of the post-Soviet period, focusing on the problems Yeltsin encountered in attempting to adopt a “corporatist” solution to the conflicts of interest that have arisen between labor, employers, and the state. With many employers still heavily dependent on the state, while others are already beyond state control, the corporatist effort has been sabotaged, Connor contends, by the lack of distinct interest groups found in more mature market economies. He concludes with an analysis of what these recent developments may portend for Russian politics and government in the future.