The tempestuous life of Boris Yeltsin came to an end yesterday. Yeltsin, the former president of Russia, was 76. Articles about the leader's life and legacy have been flowing following word of his death.

He is in the spotlight today in the Biography Resource Center database, which provides biographical and other articles about the late president. For a more international view, try the Newsbank database (scroll down the list of databases to "Newsbank" and be sure to select "remote access" if you are reading this outside the library). Go to "America's Newspapers and International News," and then click "Expand to: The World" and search on "Yeltsin." This will bring up the full text of news articles from around the world.

Other good sources of news articles include the Facts.com and EBSCO databases. In particular, EBSCO provides access to more scholarly journal articles in addition to major magazines such as Time and Newsweek. Facts.com has a narrower focus, primarily covering major world events.

To take an in-depth look at Boris Yeltsin's life and times, check out "Yeltsin : a revolutionary life" by Leon Aron. For a more general book about Russian history, including the end of the Soviet Union and the Chechnya conflict, try "Russia and the Russians : a history" by Geoffrey Hosking.