Cities are constructed and organized by people, and in turn become an important factor in the organization of human life. They are sites of both social encounter and social division and provide for their inhabitants "a sense of place". This book explores the nature of Russian cities, outlining the role played by various Russian cities over time. It focuses on a range of cities including provincial cities, considering both physical, iconic, created cities, and also cities as represented in films, fiction and other writing. Overall, the book provides a rich picture of the huge variety of Russian cities.

Cities are constructed and organized by people, and in turn become an important factor in the organization of human life. They are sites of both social encounter and social division and provide for their inhabitants "a sense of place". This book explores the nature of Russian cities, outlining the role played by various Russian cities over time. It focuses on a range of cities including provincial cities, considering both physical, iconic, created cities, and also cities as represented in films, fiction and other writing. Overall, the book provides a rich picture of the huge variety of Russian cities.

A singular mix of Russian and American academia presents this cultural cabaret in Richard Stites's memory. Topics include: theater, linguistics, soccer, jokes, cartoons, film, cars, tattoos, and Reality TV. Richard Stites devoted his remarkable talents, energy, and discipline to studying and writing about Russian culture, both highbrow and popular, and his pioneering efforts affected the intellectual landscape in both American and post-Soviet space. And so a singular mix of Russian and American academia presents this cultural cabaret in Richard's memory and honor: a pioneering feminist male writer; Eurasianism's influence on the development of linguistics; pre-World War II Moscow soccer and its fans; the contextual dynamics of a mid-1930's anti-Stalin joke; the conflicted, 108-year life of a legendary Soviet cartoonist; the imagined story behind the banning of a realistic, female-directed film; an exposition and explanation of Richard's own impact; the paradox of late Soviet private automobile consumption; the counter-cultural semiotics of criminal tattoos; the banal, profitable world of 21st-century Reality TV; and an eloquent closing tribute.