The Bucknell Russian Studies Program site was developed by the faculty and students of the Bucknell Russian Studies Program. It includes pages on the history of Russia and the Russian language, created at Bucknell, as well as links to many other sites on the Internet dealing with every other aspect of Russian life. The intended audience is prospective students and those looking for online research materials or simply wanting to know more about Russia.
The main page of the site lists its major subsections with a short, informal overview of the associated content. A few examples of the subsections would be art, business, culture, science, religion, and history. The primary pages for each of these subsections list, in turn, numerous substantial sites that can be consulted.
It is difficult to discuss details of the site in a brief review because of its range and comprehensiveness. By way of illustration, it can be noted that the history section presents links to the following sites, among others:
a chronology of Russian history;
modern customs and ancient laws in Russia;
the Mongol empire;
the Russian Orthodox Church;
the Russian Revolution of 1917;
Marxist Internet archive;
World War II through Russian eyes; and
the Cold War.
The section on Russian art presents a wide range of links to sites dealing with:
the history of Russian art (from the icons to the twentieth century);
the Hermitage (world’s second largest collection of art);
art galleries and museums of Moscow;
Russian architecture;
Russian avant‐garde art;
Vasili Kandinsky; and
The Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts.
The style of the site is informal but scholarly. Unfortunately, some of the sites that it is linked to are not well designed, with unattractive color schemes and poor use of frames. Generally, there could also be an improvement in the quality of design of the pages created at Bucknell. For example, several display red text on a very dark background which grows tiresome with extended use.
Nevertheless, the site has much to offer, providing access to an enormous amount of good quality material. It can be recommended to students and scholars of Russia as well as a wider, general audience seeking greater insight into this complex country.
