Russia: A Journey to the Heart of a Land and Its People Book + PRICE WATCH * Amazon pricing is not included in price watch

Russia: A Journey to the Heart of a Land and Its People Book

Russia is a massive book: sprawling, ambitious and richly detailed. Jonathan Dimbleby's subtitle is A Journey to the Heart of a Land and its People, and fears that he might have bitten off more than he can chew (both in this book and its accompanying TV series) are quickly allayed. What is most impressive about the book is its canny synthesis of a variety of genres: travelogue, history, social document: Russia is all of these and more, with the personal voice of the narrative by Dimbleby particularly illuminating, as he struggles to come to terms with the contradictions in this fascinating and infuriating country. It is, as the author says, a country that straddles half the globe, and contains a daunting amount of cultural and religious diversity. All of this is examined here, but any sage judgements are never delivered in sober-sided fashion -- we're always caught up in the drama of Dimbleby's journeys. The author crossed eight time zones and covered 10,000 miles, from Murmansk in the Arctic Circle to the Asian city of Vladivostok. He travels by every available method: rail, road and sea, and manages to experience all the splendours and the miseries of this amazing country. But although the contours of the locales are conjured up with maximum vividness, there are also fascinating portraits of all the Russians that Dimbleby encounters, from intellectuals and struggling peasants to the new breed of fantastically successful entrepreneurs (many of whom, of course, are now making their home in London). The colour illustrations are well chosen, but it's the text that succeeds in taking the reader on this epic journey -- a journey that will transform completely most people's apprehension of the country. --Barry Forshaw.Read More

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  • Amazon

    The author crosses eight time zones and covers 10,000 miles in an attempt to get to the beating heart of the Russia. This is a personal odyssey and a mesmerizing account of a country undergoing economic, cultural and political change.

  • TheBookPeople

    Winston Churchill famously described Russia as 'a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma' and even today it remains a country little understood by the West. In this revealing portrait, Jonathan Dimbleby crosses eight time zones and covers 10,000 miles in an attempt to get to the beating heart of the new Russia. His epic journey takes him from the Arctic city of Murmansk in the west to the Asian port of Vladivostok in the east, and he encounters an extraordinary range of people: urban intellectuals and entrepreneurs, war veterans and migrant labourers, spiritual leaders and aging rock stars, bootleg vendors and fish poachers, loggers in the forests of Siberia and fellow journalists under siege in an increasingly autocratic society. Russia is both a deeply personal odyssey and a mesmerizing account of a country undergoing profound economic, cultural and political change.

  • 1846076730
  • 9781846076732
  • Jonathan Dimbleby
  • 2 April 2009
  • BBC Books
  • Paperback (Book)
  • 592
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