The Russian Way: Aspects of Behavior, Attitudes, and Customs of the Russians

A VERY GOOD BOOK FOR ANYONE TRAVELING TO RUSSIA. I GIVE IT TO MANY FRIENDS & IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN A HELP. THERE ARE INSIGHTS IN THIS BOOK YOU WOULD FIND HARD TO COME BY FROM ANY OTHER SOURCE UNLESS YOU WERE A SEASONED TRAVELER TO RUSSIA.

Dabars and Vokhmina have created a thorough, yet concise guidebook, which is geared towards those who plan to travel to the former Soviet Union in the very near future. The stated purpose of this book was to make the Russian culture explainable and believable to the non-Russian reader, and I believe that this goal was accomplished.I have the 1995 edition of this book and it does contain a disproportionate amount of typographic errors which I found to be a little irritating at times. The authors credited a lot of people in the preface for "proofreading" this book - What were they thinking?After reading this book, you will be able to answer the following questions:- Should you give an even number or an odd number of flowers to your Russian friend?- How do you write a Russian postal address?- What do a Russian newlywed couple traditionally do after the wedding ceremony?- What is the "evil eye"?- How many letters are in the Cyrillic alphabet and how are they different from the Roman alphabet?Dabars and Vokhmina effectively cover these topics and more in "The Russian Way". The book is very lightweight, only 99 pages long, and thus can serve as excellent reading material while traveling. I think that "The Russian Way" would be an excellent start for any beginning Russophile.

Writing from her experience, Zita Dabar answers the top queries on cultural mores, social issues communication, and idiosyncracies of Russian society. Additionally she offers great tips for the situations one will confront in their cross-cultural encounters. You could think of this as a "71 of the Best Things to Know About Russian Culture and Life" book. You know-- the kind of thing airline magazines print in those crisp but colorful illustrated travel commentaries ("The Ideal 10 Ways to Spend Three Days..." or "15 Fascinating Facts About..."). Dabar lists each of 71 items indexed numerically, followed by several paragraphs to pages of great material. Don't let the "Top-Ten-ish" approach dissuade you. She obviously has given each one serious thought, telling us they all have been reviewed by Russians and other informed cultural veterans just to be sure she didn't leave out or misstate anything.While her goal of bringing all of us to "Level III" of cultural awareness might be a bit of a stretch, we can say at least we've made a good start. All in all, it is a really good short volume.

This an excellent book! It is most useful in educating a person who wishes to learn more about Russian customs and culture. I am currently taking a course in Russian for the second year in a row at my school, and became interested in the book when we used several copies in a lesson. It is very accurate as far as I can tell from my knowledge of Russian culture. This book would be very useful for tourists and travelers to Russia to have. It is overall a very good book and I give it the five-star rating that it deserves.