Reading material for a long weekend!

In the course of a discussion I had with "Suvoroff" (James D. Gray) about various books on the Russian Army, he mentioned one I had not in fact heard of before- "From Serf to Russian Soldier", by Elise Kimerling Wirtschafter. It is a scholarly account of the soldiers of the Russian army during the first part of the 19th Century.

Although it is out of print, I promptly did an Internet search and was able to find a copy through Amazon. I immediately ordered it from the Tacoma Book Center in Tacoma, Washington. It arrived in my postbox here in Tokyo just four days after ordering- which was pretty impressive.

I will be adding my thoughts about the book to this post once I have had the chance to read it through. So tonight, I will pour myself a glass of vodka, crank up my compilation of Russian regimental marches for some suitable BGM, settle down in the armchair and immerse myself in the Russian army!