by Luigi Villari (Author), Graeme Newman (Introduction)

In 1905, a young Italian journalist and future diplomat set out across the Russian Empire in the immediate aftermath of a war that had just humiliated a great power and cracked open a century of imperial certainty. What he found — and photographed — became this book.

Luigi Villari traveled from the drawing rooms of St. Petersburg to the bazaars of Moscow, from the great fair at Nizhny Novgorod to the ironworks of the Donets basin, from monasteries outside Kiev to the tenements of factory towns, capturing a country lurching between old-world autocracy and the raw pressures of industrial change. He wrote about labor unrest and railway barons, about corrupt charity and courageous doctors, about the peasant's world and the aristocrat's, without ever losing the outsider's eye for telling detail. His account of Russian public opinion after the war — written before anyone could know how the story would end — reads today as a snapshot of a future still genuinely undecided.

This Read-Me.Org edition brings Villari's 1905 classic back into print for modern readers: fully re-edited and corrected, with US spelling and punctuation modernized throughout, Russian place and personal names standardized to current usage, and all 84 of Villari's original photographs restored in their original positions. A new introduction by Graeme R. Newman situates the book within the Russo-Japanese War, the 1905 Revolution, and the wave of foreign travel writing that tried to make sense of an empire already sliding toward collapse.

For readers of Russian history, travel literature, and the long run-up to 1917 — a firsthand report from a country that didn't yet know what was coming.

Read-Me.Org Inc. New York-Philadelphia-Australia. 2026. p.

By C. Raymond Beazley. Edited by Colin Heston

Prince Henry the Navigator: The Hero of Portugal and of Modern Discovery, 1394–1460 A.D. by C. Raymond Beazley is a scholarly and richly detailed biography that explores the life and legacy of Prince Henry of Portugal, a pivotal figure in the early Age of Exploration. Beazley’s work is more than just a biography—it’s a comprehensive historical study that places Prince Henry within the broader context of medieval geographical knowledge and the intellectual currents of Christian Europe. The book is structured to serve both as a narrative of Prince Henry’s life and as an account of the geographical and scientific progress that laid the groundwork for his achievements.

Though he never personally embarked on voyages, Prince Henry was instrumental in initiating and supporting expeditions along the West African coast. He established a navigation school at Sagres, where he gathered cartographers, sailors, and scholars to advance maritime knowledge. Beazley highlights the development of the caravel and other innovations that enabled longer and more efficient sea voyages. He also explores the political stability and ambition of Portugal under the House of Aviz, which made such exploration possible.

The book opens with a detailed preface and chapters that trace the evolution of geographical science from the Crusades onward, showing how medieval Europe’s understanding of the world set the stage for the Age of Discovery. Beazley combines rigorous scholarship with engaging storytelling, weaving together facts, anecdotes, and analysis to portray Prince Henry as a transformative figure in world history. Written in a formal, academic tone, the book is ideal for History enthusiasts, Students of medieval and early modern Europe and Scholars of exploration and maritime history.

It remains a valuable resource for understanding how one man’s vision helped launch Europe into a new era of global exploration.

Read-Me.Org Inc. New York-Philadelphia-Australia. 2025. 191p.