The Marquis de Custine's unique perspective on a vast, fascinating country in the grip of oppressive tyranny In 1839, encouraged by his friend Balzac, Custine set out to explore Russia.

Translation is based on the 3rd French ed. of La Russie en 1839."A Gateway edition."

But together with a wealth of sharply delineated incident and detail, Custine’s great work also presents an indelible picture—roundly denounced by both Czarist and Communist regimes—of a country crushed by despotism and “intoxicated ...

More than 150 years after its publication, the Marquis de Custine's colorful account of his journey through Russia is more relevant today than ever before.

Indeed, to understand the contemporary [American-Russian] relationship, in all its complex historical and cultural nuance, one needs to read only two books, de Tocqueville's Democracy in America and de Custine's Journey for Our Time.