Poetry. Translated from Russian by Judith Hemschemeyer. This book contains more than one hundred poems from The Complete Poems of Anna Akmatova, which was named of the best books of 1990 by the New York Times. Akhmatova first achieved fame as an icon of pre-Revolutionary literary society. In the post revolution era she became the unofficial spokesperson for her fellow countrymen who suffered through Stalinism. This book features poems both originally written in Russian and English and represents the full span of the poet's career. Also included is a translator's introduction and a preface to Akhmatova's life by Roberta Reeder and notes from Hemschemeyer's definitive translation.