Arthur Ransome was forty-six when Swallows and Amazons was published in 1930. He was at a turning point in a career as a journalist in which he had covered many important stories, most notably the Russian Revolution. He had been publishing books since...

Less than Zero Ransom EVER SINCE the unexpected success of Jay McInerney's Bright Lights, Big City last year, Clever Young Novelists (also known as Voices of a Generation) have been extremely hot among New York publishers. The latest model, discovered by Simon...

Russia is in turmoil, a huge empire sundered, a once mighty military machine on the verge of dissolution, with hunger abroad, privation all too common and politics presenting a disordered spectacle of sectarian squabble, |democrats' behaving undemocratically, ethnic rivalries and nationalist passions threatening...