title: Russia's Four Seasons: Landscapes and Images of Mother Russia (Temporis)
author:  Elisabeth Ingles 
description: This beautifully produced volume celebrates the natural beauty and vastness of Russia as seen and painted by Russian artists. The volume opens with a chapter on why Russians developed their deep love of country and then discusses, briefly, major trends in Russian art. It then divides into the four seasons, with each section showing scenes of Russian village and city landscapes, highlighting the vastness and the astonishing variety of geography. "The Itinerants"Aartists such as Ivan Shiskin, Isaac Levitan, Vasily Surikov, and Ilya RepinAare well represented. The paintings are reproduced with careful attention to detail and faithfulness to original colors. It would have been helpful if the author had listed the size of every painting rather than only a few, and some sort of index and biographical information about the artists would have been nice. Still, this volume is a beautiful introduction to art about Russia by Russians. For public and academic libraries.AMartin Chasin, Adult Inst., Bridgeport, CT <br />Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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  ## KATHLEEN E. WOODIWISS
  
  ## FOREVER IN YOUR EMBRACE
  
  ![logo](~export~_files/image002.gif)
  
   _To my granddaughter,_
  
   _Amber Erin,_
  
   _who makes everyone in the family_
  
   _feel special._
  
  
  
  
  
  ## _1_
  
  **_Russia, somewhere east of Moscow_**
  
   ** _August 8, 1620_**
  
   ** _T_** he lowering sun shimmered through the dusty haze looming in languid
  stillness above the treetops, tinting the tiny grains of sand with vibrant
  shades of crimson until the very air seemed aflame. An ominous portent, the
  reddish aura offered no promise of rain or respite for a parched and thirsty
  land. Excessive heat and a lengthy drought had scorched the plains and barren
  steppes, wilting endless areas of grass down to densely matted roots. But here
  in the mixed wooded region of Russia, bordered on the north and east by the
  Volga River and on the south by the Oka, the thick forests appeared relatively
  unscathed by the lack of rain. Even so, amid the voluminous cl