5 comments about Ukraine (Culture Shock! A Survival Guide to Customs & Etiquette).

1. This book is somewhat helpful but hopelessly outdated. Ukraine is changing rapidly and this book just is not of much use at all! See if you can buy it used, but don't waste your money on a new copy.



2. This book is fine if you are just starting out. I found it useful but you'll need more after this. There are many areas where even the un-educated will realized topics are outdated.



3. CULTURE SHOCK: UKRAINE ranks as one of the best installments of the Culture Shock series. Straightforward and very thorough, it gave this American reader a helpful introduction to Ukrainian culture. Written by an American, Meredith Dalton, who lived in Kyiv for some time, the book tells expatriates what they need to know for a smooth transition to living and working in Ukraine.

   Ukraine is a very different country from the U.S., and things that Westerners would see as corruption and inefficiency are normal matters there. Dalton is very frank about how to deal with Ukrainian bureaucracy, how to maintain patience, and how to refrain from comparing everything to life back home. While she emphasizes to the reader that Ukraine may be a difficult and sometimes infuriating country for outsiders, she is always respectful of the Ukrainian culture and way of life. This is one of the few books in the Culture Shock series that are so admirably dedicated to preventing culture shock.

   Meredith Dalton also tackles the delicate issue of ethnicity in Ukraine, and explains how, for some people, the country is polarised into a Ukrainian-speaking half and a Russian-speaking half. However, she also shows how the country is in most respects a united culture in spite of language differences.

   I felt the section on Ukrainian cuisine could have been a bit more in-depth. Also, the book is geared towards future residents of Kyiv or Lviv, the two cities to which foreigners are most likely to move. As a result, Ukrainian village life is hardly mentioned. However, the meagreness of these topics left Dalton ample room for discussion of Ukrainian custom, etiquette, and superstition.

   All in all, CULTURE SHOCK: UKRAINE is an essential resource for anyone vacationing in Ukraine or moving there. One of the best Culture Shock guides.




4. this is a really good book about Ukraine. It talks about everything you can imagine-customs, laws, people, even jokes. Its very accurate and definately brought back some memories for me. If you are traveling to Ukraine and want some insights into ukrainian lifestyle and people this is the book for you.



5. Although some of the information is outdated in places like Kyiv, great insight to some of the other places. I wish she had more to say about the Western (Traditional Ukrainian) half, but still well worth it.

5 comments about Reeling In Russia: An American Angler In Russia.

1. I do a fair amount of work in Russia, so I was interested in Reeling in Russia to deepen my understanding of this complex country. Essentially a travel diary, this book provides a very personal view of the author's fishing trip through Russia, remarkably made almost exclusively by land and water. Given his fluency in Russian and his laid-back--bordering on reckless--approach to travel planning, Montaigne's book provides a fascinating and truly unique view of Russia in 1996. This approach, however, is also the book's weakness. Montaigne's encounters are wonderful to read in and of themselves, but they rarely add up to more than snapshots of a point in time. Montaigne's journalistic background prevails as he recounts the here and now (actually the then and there in '96) without fleshing things out into a more enduring book. So if you're looking for an analysis or current history of Russia's transition out of the Soviet period, you will probably not be satisfied with this book. Otherwise, I do recommend Reeling in Russia for those seeking a tale of adventures crossing the chaos and desolation of 'early post-Soviet Russia', in meeting some of the human faces of this extraordinary culture, or simply for fans of this diary style of travel writing.



2. Author managed to convince his wife, Russia and an editor that he was writing a book on fly fishing by going across the Russian steppe from West to East meeting with local fly fishermen and trading tips.
   However finding out there was a grand total of about 150 fly fishermen across a nation of 200 million people he started to write about the actual experiences of meeting and finding these people and the conditions they lived in.
   A great look at modern life in Russia, continually amazed that everyone operated under fog of an alcoholic haze that permeated everyone.



3. This book is a travel journal that takes us through the far corners of rural Russia, from Murmansk to Kamchatka. Montaigne's fly-fishing hobby takes him well off the beaten path, to explore the wilds of the backwoods and streams. Along the way, of course, he must pass through small towns and stay with friends and acquaintances in tiny villages. Most of the text is a very vivid, journalistic description of conditions in small town Russia and Siberia today, almost 10 years after the fall of Communism. His analyses of conditions on the ground are comparable to those of other travel-journalists, such as Robert Kaplan. However, he visits places that are unknown for even people like Kaplan, since he avoids the big cities altogether. What struck me while reading this book was how much backwoods Russia is a poor, developing country, with no running water or functioning government services. This makes aspects of Montaigne's travel journal quite comparable to those of writers visiting Nepal or India. Yet, one rarely reads of travel adventures in a European Third World, making this book very unique.

   All of the prose is not about people and their problems, however, since this is after all, a fishing trip. Montaigne does an admirable job of describing his efforts at fly fishing. Through reading this book, I began to get an inkling for the first time of what the sport of fly fishing is all about. I'm much more interested in culture and travel than fishing, but Montaigne's fishing episodes were written well enough to hold my interest. On the other hand, serious fly fishing enthusiasts may be looking for more about fish than this book provides.




4. The author crosses 14 time zones searching for the perfect place to practice his fly fishing hobby. Traveling off the beaten path, he encounters and effectively describes life in post-Soviet Russia. Poverty, lethargy, crime, and an occaisional instance of hope for the future. An easy, sometimes humorous read.



5. travels with a russian speaking american who takes off solo on a cross country adventure in search of salmon, and the likes, which gives us a look at not only the fishing but also a little history and a look at the dark side of this truly grand country. where it was, some of the issues it is facing, and lots of working folks who are trying to survive and prosper -- all this while fishing in some super interesting places.

No comments about Russia/CIS Map (Country Road & Touring).

2 comments about Letters from Russia (New York Review Books Classics).

1. The great classic work of Imperial Russia from a French Aristocrat who ultimately finds Russian Autocracy too much to take. Wordy, opinionated, and not very in depth, an essayist after the French style, Custine's letters are nevertheless invaluable to a student of Russia history or anyone who simply wants to understand imperial Russia. His description of St. Petersburg and Moscow, his personal meeting with Tsar Nicholas I, make it well worth it. While I don't agree with the idea that the Soviet period was simply an extension of Tsarist Russia, one nevertheless gets an idea of what Russia under Nicholas was like, and how the Revolutionaries gained a hearing in this atmosphere. Most importantly, its small enough to curl up in bed with!



2. "Letters from Russia" is a remarkable travelogue by Adolphe De Custine - a somewhat haughty Frenchman - who travelled to Imperial Russia in the middle of the 19th century.
   
   De Custine himself was the descendant of aristocrats - his father and grandfather were both executed during the Terror in the aftermath of the French Revolution. De Custine was certainly convinced of the superiority of the aristocracy and Catholicism but was not taken with the Russian incarnation of these institutions.
   
   What makes this book so interesting is De Custine's incredibly perceptive comment on the Russian psyche, which so easily explains how Russia could move from the tyranny of the all-knowing, all-powerful Tsar to the totalitarianism of the Communist regime.
   
   De Custine writes in a florid, sentimental style, typical of the age, which makes this long book somewhat heavy going. However, there are plenty of zingers along the way and many beautiful descriptions of the Russian landscape to keep the reader entertained.
   
   Probably not recommended to the average reader, but for students of Russian history this is certainly a "must-read".

5 comments about Lithuania, 4th: The Bradt Travel Guide (Bradt Guides).

1. This is really the only complete travel book on Lithuania available. Complete coverage of the whole country. I especially liked the History chapter and the Further Reading Appendix. I always like to read up on the history of where I'm going and this book is an outstanding resource. The Where to Stay sections were large and useful.
   
   My only complaints are that this book could use color maps instead and more detailed transport sections. I would have liked it to list the estimated travel prices and travel times in a table. Actually, I wish most travel guides would have a table summarizing everything from hotels, restaurants and transport but most travel guides don't do that.



2. The product was in excellent shape when I received it. The book looked as if it were new and bought right off the book store shelf.



3. Once a year I go to Lithuania and spend a month there teaching about spirituality. The people are wonderful and the country magical.
   
   This is a great book about a beautiful, quaint, poetic country. If you are thinking about going to Europe buy this book and pack your bags for Lithuania.



4. There's no question that this is the guidebook to get for a trip to Lithuania. As another reviewer mentioned, the coverage of the rest of the country besides Kaunas and Vilnius is wonderful.
   
   It is worth pointing out, however, that this guide has hardly been updated since the 3rd edition. The additions are mostly in the culture/history section and the Vilnius section. In the coverage of the rest of the country, most passages are copied over verbatim. As an easy example, the back cover of the 3rd edition says:
   
   "The beauty of Lithuania and the hospitability of its people guarantee an unforgettable trip for any visitor. The Old Town of Vilnius, the country's capital, offers a striking and exuberant mix of Gothic and baroque architecture. Spend relaxing days exploring its cobbled lanes, and atmospheric evenings in its colorful bars. Or head for the coast and the wild dunes- a delight for the lover of nature."
   
   From the back of the 4th edition:
   
   "The enigmatic beauty of Lithuania and the hospitality of its people guarantee an unforgettable trip. The Old Town of Vilnius, a likeable and cosmopolitan capital, offers an exuberant mix of Gothic and baroque architecture. Wander its cobbled lanes before emerging for an evening in a vibrant bar. Alternatively, head for the beach resorts and the wild dunes- a delight for the lover of nature."
   
   So in the new edition you find out that Lithuania's beauty is enigmatic and that the bars are vibrant, not just colorful. Again, this warning applies only to people who either already have the 3rd edition, and want to upgrade (this is what I did), or people who have an opportunity to buy the 3rd edition cheap and don't know if they'll be missing out. You won't be. If you don't have any guide for Lithuania, though, this is certainly the one to buy.



5. I'm taking to these Bradt guides. As a dedicated Rough Guide reader, I have to say that these books impress me. There's something to the Bradt guides that other guides lack, and it's hard to put your finger on it. They're not glossy photo essays, and they don't include finely detailed maps. I think it's the depth of the writing that convinces me. You can tell that these books aren't packed with ill-informed "facts" or airline magazine history. You can tell that the authors aren't just blowing smoke.
   
   This book covers Lithuania like the winter rain. The historic, cultural and literary contexts are superb. The listings are exhaustive and accurate. The "sites" are deep, not limited to tourist traps in Vilnius. The book covers all the cities and towns for cultural tourists, and covers interesting natural sites for eco-tourists. It's a complete picture, and you'll learn something too.
   
   My only complaints are relative lack of photography (even less than a Rough Guide) and a seemingly intentional neglect of Czeslaw Milosz, the great Polish poet born and raised in (what was then) Polish Wilno.

5 comments about Korolev: How One Man Masterminded the Soviet Drive to Beat America to the Moon.

1. Sergei Pavlovich Korolyev was the "chief designer" responsible for the development of the world's first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) and artificial earth satellite (Sputnik 1). The authoritative biography of Sergei Pavlovich must probably await a translation from the Russian. More technical detail is required beyond what is available in Hartford's book. Still, the present volume is the best current study of Korolyev available in English. The book is more than adequate for a popular readership but will occasionally annoy the professional with errors like the one on page 255 where Hartford claims that the Soyuz reentry capsule is spherical and the orbital module is bell-shaped. The opposite is true. I also felt there was a bit too much speculation mixed in with the historical fact.



2. This book is very well resarched and gives deep insights into the Soviet space effort unknown in the West. A must to read for anyone really interested in space. Before only the American side was presented to the public, while the Soviet side well hidden. Very interesting is the the fate of the N-1 Moon rocket. It is impossible to believe that the Soviets had not only one manned Moon program but two competing ones.



3. Go beyond the Propaganda with this book.

   Massively documented, dense and well written, this book is a treasure to anyone interested in the space race, the men and women behind it, the politics involved, between nations, ideologies, and especially between individuals.

   With "Korolev", you follow the rise and fall (to the Gulag), and rise(!) of the man that took on himself to beat the Americans, fighting against the Party, the lack of interest from his leaders, his enemies, and of course, some technological problems.

   It's hard to comprehend what could have motivated anyone to work during this troubled era with such devotion and faith in his country, even after having been sent for no reason to Siberia for 7 years during the Stalinist Terror.

   And yet, it's this period of space history that saw Sputnik, Gagarin, Vostok and Venera, as well as a number of "circus acts", as they said, that scared the USA about a possible "Communist Moon". It's also the Soviet space program that will create the most ingenious space technology ever built (read "Russia In Space" about the RD-180, or the NK-33 rocket engines, built in the 60's).

   It's worth noting that the author never tries to revise history: facts, facts and facts, explained in their context. I am just waiting for such a book to be written on the US space program, the only country with China that still uses propaganda... After all, NASA has been created for the Moon race during the Cold War.




4. James Harford has done a great job in putting this book together. It has taken him many years to do this. It is a well written and a well researched book. This book tells the story of Sergei Pavlovich Korolev who was the Mastermind behind the Soviet space program. There are a lot of interviews with people who worked with him and new him. It gives you a really good look at this great Man. It also gives you a good history lesson of the soviet space program.
   I would highly recommend this book if you are interested in the history of space. If you want some inspiration in life of what one man can do then this is a great read.



5. This is a great book because it describes not only the life of a remarkable man about which the West has heard very little, but also for it's lucid description of the profoundly messed-up system that was the Soviet space program. The reader will feel the victories and the anguish that Korolev experience during his life as he turned his childhood dreams of space travel in to groundbreaking reality, only to have progress snuffed out by the political system there. If you enjoy reading about space travel, history, biography or politics, you'll enjoy this book.

5 comments about Sacred Sea: A Journey to Lake Baikal.

1. Much more than a travelogue, the author does a superb job of chronicling his personal and ecological discoveries--illustrating his NPR investigative skills throughout--when he makes his way from Boston to Lake Baikal in the Siberian plateau. A very good read with good pacing, and a true eye-opener about the vulnerablity to pollution of the world's largest body of fresh water.



2. Sacred Sea: A Journey to Lake Baikal is at once a deeply engaging memoir, highly entertaining travel book (and boys' adventure), and a remarkably acute (and non-polemic) cautionary tale about the environment.
   
   A few years back, Peter Thomson, then editor and producer of NPR's environmental news program Living on Earth, found himself at the loose ends. Thomson's way of tying up the loose ends was to embark on an around the world boat and train (no planes!) journey with his younger brother, a journey that would center on Siberia's Lake Baikal,the world's largest body of fresh water and home to a unique ecosystem.(With a heavily-polluting paper mill on its shores, Lake Baikal is in some danger.)
   
   Thomson managed to talk to a number of people on all sides of the Baikal issue - scientists, business people, environmentalists, politicos - and these conversations make for compelling reading.
   
   So do all the sections on getting from Point A to Point B,legs of the journey largely made on cargo ships and not particularly comfortable trains. For the most part, Thomson went native in his travels, and thus left himself open to the types of encounters you won't have if you're riding the clean toilet tourist bus with the Kiwanis Club.
   
   This book is highly recommended - and would make an excelent book club choice. Plenty to discuss here!



3. I make my living as a writer, so it is with some trepidation that I declare any book beautifully written. But in this case I have to, because it is.
   
   "Sacred Sea" is a must-read, the tale of a journalist and his half-brother who decide to voyage to the world's oldest, deepest and biggest lake - without boarding an airplane to get there. When they arrive, they are told of the lake's magical power to restore itself in the face of increasing pollution. They become environmental detectives, using the tools of journalism.
   
   It's at once travelogue, environmental investigation and a study of the Russian character, punctuated by passages in a personal emotional voyage. Thomson's renderings of characters are delightful: the long-suffering scientist, the boastful - and yet ultimately conflicted - political appointee, the earnest environmentalist-turned-tour guide, the vividly dressed "Old Believers" for whom even the Russian Orthodox Church is too modern.
   
   My favorite chapter, and perhaps the most beautifully written, is Thomson's imaginary trip to the lake's bottom. Yes, it's imaginary - the only part of the book that is - and yet so revealing. No wonder the New York Times called the book "compelling" and a "superb paean to a unique and bizarre ecosystem."



4. Siberia's Lake Baikal is an astonishing body of water with a unique hold on Russian culture, and increasingly on the imaginations of nature lovers around the world. And of course, the pristine lake is under threat from pollution, development, and climate change. It might be up to the outside world to provide the help that will be impractical or impossible in the Russian bureaucracy and political regime. Peter Thomson embarked on an enlightening and unconventional journey to Baikal and writes beautifully on its natural wonders, the hardy local people, and the threats it faces. Thomson is also adept at exploring the conundrums and enigmas of environmental ethics and the political realities faced by activists working from near and far.
   
   This book also includes Thomson's tales of his offbeat worldwide journey, just one part of which was his long visit to Baikal, but these other portions of the book are rather inconsistently presented, both detracting from the Baikal story and suggesting that the worldwide adventure might be better presented in a book of its own. And there is one real problem with Thomson's occasional lapses into soul-searching about his personal problems. While these issues were the partial impetus for Thomson's journey, such diversions become merely awkward and self-indulgent in a book that is supposed to be about something else. Fortunately, overall this book does an outstanding job of highlighting the unique wonders of Lake Baikal and why more than just the locals should care about its future. [~doomsdayer520~]



5. You will find this book a spiritual reflection, a personal memoir, an ecological thriller. It focuses on one of the most unique and special natural wonders of the world, Siberia's Lake Baikal, "The Sacred Sea," and the necessity of saving it as both a gift to the future and an end in itself. The author writes with passion, conviction and poignancy; a splendid and inspiring read!

4 comments about The Rough Guide To St. Petersburg 5 (Rough Guide Travel Guides).

1. This book is a must if you are traveling to St. Petersburg. It has tons of great info and is definately worth the $20 some bucks it cost.



2. While in St Petersburg for several months I stocked up on three guidebooks. The Rough Guide was an excellent way to get to know the city. The amount of information is so dense that it actually becomes a drawback at times. I used the Rough Guide in conjuction with the Lonely Planet guide to St Pete. Together they were a great combination.

   If you want one book that will fill you in on the background of St Pete's and delves in depth into its subject matter this is the guide for you. Or, if you are going on an extended stay- as I was- I can recommend this guide.

   If you're going on a shorter trip you may try the very good (and shorter) Lonely Planet guide.




3. This book was basically the only guidebook that I used for my two week trip to St. Petersburg. It was extremely up-to-date, with only one restaurant we tried out of business (and a friend had eaten there a week before, so it was a recent development), and provided great descriptions for all of the places that we visited, with many details and interesting tidbits. It has a chapter each for the Hermitage and the Russian Museum, with descriptions of what could be found in each room, which greatly assisted in deciding where to devote our time and then to navigate these huge museums. We even found some wonderful, cheap restaurants in the book that our friends living in St. Petersburg had not found. By the end of our trip, we were all speaking of this book in reverential tones and I would highly recommend this book to anyone as their primary guide to St. Petersburg.
   
   The book has a language section, with the cyrillic aphabet, a pronunciation guide, common words and phrases, and terms for foods. This was extremely useful for learning to read cyrillic and to get around. However, I would recommend getting a separate phrase book or dictionary, as even though many of the basics were covered, the language section is just too short to contain everything you're likely going to need to communicate.



4. This book gives ou a nice overview of the region, and incredible specific tips for visiting St. Petersburg.

5 comments about The Chess Artist: Genius, Obsession, and the World's Oldest Game.

1. The Chess Artist contains some interesting observations about the game, and the occasional worthwhile excursus, but it never quite closes in on an interesting story. This may be because so much of it is built on intentionally arbitrary encounters, events seemly engineered to generate something to write about (e.g. chess games played in prisons, or among a museum's Duchamp collection). I enjoyed it, and I learned something, but I had hoped for more.



2. Chess players can be very intriguing. At the highest levels, it is difficult to imagine what they go through and why they do it. It is a competitive obsession.
   The reader is led through the world of a competitive chess player with some great insights of the motivation and culture in which a chess player immerses himself/herself.



3. The Chess Artist was a bit boring to me. I found the main characters Glenn and the author very interesting. I found the telling of their exploits in America and the minor characters that they encounter in America very interesting. However, most of the story takes place in Kalmakia, Russia, and this did not keep my interest at all. In general, the writing is very good, so I may come back to this book at a later date.



4. The Chess Artist was a bit boring for me. I found the main characters in the book, Glenn Umstead and the author very intriguing. This book is really a diary of chess adventures of these two men. I found the telling of their exploits in America and the minor characters that they encounter in America very interesting. However, most of the story takes place in Kalmakya, Russia, and this did not keep my interest at all. So most of the book is pretty boring. In general, the writing is very good, so I may come back to this book at a later date.



5. Time saver tip: only read this review if you have read at least 5 reviews already.
   
   At the time of writing my review, there are 34 reviews already in, and the average rating is 4 stars. I don't need to tell you what you will find in the book (the facts and topics that it covers), since it's all out there, quite accurately. Therefore, I will only give you a few points that may only make sense after you have read a number of reviews.
   
   I think the review that, as of this writing, is featured at the top of the list, by T. K. Kenyon, got it exactly right: this book is about obsession/addiction, and it's all about the journey. Hallman masters description (from people to landscapes to subcultures) and mood (his journey through the world of chess goes through many stages and he shares how the journey affected and changed him). Absolutely refreshing, a continuous invitation to keep reading.
   
   This book's subject matter, therefore, is not chess. The subject matter is, again, obsession (the word is even in the title of the book). Those reviewers that note aspects of chess not covered by the book as if these were flaws didn't get it. They approached the book with specific expectations. The book is not a chess treatise. It does not have to cover all aspects of chess. What would be the point, for example, in having the book covering the international chess scene if, as all reviewers noted, Glenn Umstead cannot compete at that level?
   
   I am a chess player myself, but not even close to the level of obsession personified by Glenn Umstead--not now, anyway. My journey through the world of chess had ups and downs. As another reviewer put it, Hallman has a love/hate relationship with the game. Put me in the same camp. I almost felt like the book had been written exclusively for me. Hallman takes you on a journey through the glory and darkness of chess. No wonder chess lovers liked the book a lot less than nonchess players! They don't want to see the (many) unpleasantries.
   
   In just a few years, it seems that Hallman was able to grasp, and put in print, all the feelings that the game can generate. Who cares that he didn't solve a murder mystery in Kalmykia? That part of the book is about exploration, frustration, and pushing it like a madman. Hallman is not a chess master, but obsession is quite contagious.

5 comments about Black Earth: A Journey through Russia after the Fall.

1. I was looking for a walk down memory lane. Yessir, I got it.
   
   I was looking to be educated about Russia by a competent scribe who could cut through all of that jingoistic anti-post-Soviet (and mostly Western-instigated) gibberish that pervades the shelves of the big literary boxstores, which some people call "bookstores." Yup. I got it, too.
   
   I wanted to be entertained with a book which, on the cold hard face of it, could have alternately emerged as a dry quote-heavy and source material-heavy non-fiction tour-de-force. It wasn't. So, uh-huh, that wish came true as well.
   
   Andrew Meier's book is a sheer delight for the visual senses. Tolstoy would have been proud. Solzhenitsyn is chuckling about this, even today, and he's not laughing at Mr. Meier as much as he's laughing about what Mr. Meier writes about. Why didn't this come to market a lot sooner, Solzhenitsyn seems to be asking...
   
   Russians across that vast expanse of territory situated at the top of the world atlas are also cheering in hip-hop-hooray at Mr. Meier's efforts. Across the colorful breadth of Mr. Meier's massive book, you get a sense inside its pages that a lone man's really devoted himself, monk-like, to the dissection and comprehension of the cross-section of Russian society in a way few researchers of his ilk really have. It's so impressive.
   
   What you're going to read inside these pages, folks, is truly a work of admirable obsessiveness by a young man who has passionately found himself in a land not quite his own. I'm suddenly envious of him for finding a passion which has overtaken his senses to the degree that the former Soviet Union has. All of us must have this passion. Our lives depend on it.
   
   I admit, like most Westerners, much of what we know about yesterday's and today's Russia is biased by more than forty years of the Cold War. Much of what we know is useless wide accusatory brushstroking that doesn't help us to understand what make these people truly tick.
   
   Rarely has a Westerner had such an exclusive chance to probe into the depths and lives of a former "enemy. When an opportunity arose post-glasnost, Meier was one of the first Western reporters to really get a good look around at things. He tells you all about it in black and white.
   
   I can't fault any of these chapters, really.
   
   I'd love to have read more about the lives of the oligarchs, but I understand the comparative paucity and murkiness of the supplied information on the likes of Mssrs. Berezovsky, Gusinsky, and Potanin. It's clear that Meier could have been putting his very life in danger for doing so. We have all heard of the fates of Mssrs. Klebnikov and Theo Van Gogh and then, of the late Madame Politikovskaya. There's no use belaboring the point that Meier is an overly talented author who has more than just his authorial career at stake, in the mix. Though I appreciate his candor and the depth of incisiveness with which he was capable of going, sadly, authors in Russia can only probe thus far...
   
   The section about Chechnya was simply marvellous. Meier really got in there, befriended all the right people and got into their thoughts and all. He's even written something about Chechnya in its own subsequent treatment, something which I'm going to get my hands on eventually. It's hard for all of us to visualize what's going on over there in the Caucasus--let alone look at it soberly and without judgement--for the simple reason that what the Russian armed forces are doing gets subsumed into that war on something starting with the letter "t." Because the Russians are deemed to be engaged in something totally acceptable as per the world's opinion, it suddenly doesn't seem all that wrong. Troublesome thoughts, indeed.
   
   I warn you, ladies and gentlemen, this is by far an "easy" read. It's heavy and the print's for the most part, tiny. It's going to take you a good long while to finish it, and even if you're a fast reader, I recommend it best to meander about its pages for a bit. It's detail-a-plenty, and something tells me to gobble this one quickly is actually a disservice to Andrew's diligent toil.
   
   He really covers all the bases, it's staggering. I'm still in awe.
   
   While I finished this one in 2007, his is my best non-fiction book of 2006. Hands down.
   
   Five stars from me.
   
   Hand on the heart,
   ADM in Prague



2. This book recounts the author's travels throughout Russia in the late 1990's and early 2000's. Overall, I think that Meier makes a worthwhile contribution to the already substantial number of journalistic travel narratives that focus on the post-Soviet realm. The book is divided into 6 chapters: the first and last ones discuss the author's time spent in Moscow, while the other 4 trace his visits to the southern, northern, eastern, and western edges of the country. His journey to the south takes him to Chechnya, where he visits a village that was the site of a purported recent massacre of civilians. This chapter was interesting if only for the fact that there is still a dearth of Western journalists who have managed to visit and write about the region. His interviewees there include Chechen civilians, Russian military personnel, doctors, local warlords, and others. His analysis of the political dynamics was fairly neutral and evenhanded. Meier's northern journey involves a trip up the Yenisei River from Krasnoyarsk to Norilsk, which lies above the Arctic Circle. Norilsk was founded as a prison camp and today is centered on the extraction of nickel and other natural resources. Meier is mostly interested in the city's history as a part of the gulag, and he interviews numerous people who were themselves prisoners. One of the chapter's themes is the fact that many of these people elected to stay in this polluted, isolated, freezing place even after they became free, simply because they had nowhere to go. Next Meier goes to the Pacific island of Sakhalin, home to some of Russia's largest oil fields. He hauntingly describes driving through near ghost towns that have been decimated by industrial collapse, emigration, and various other societal ills that are pervasive throughout Russia. Finally, Meier has a nice chapter on St. Petersburg, looking at the city's cultural and historical role in Russia. He uses the assassination of Petersburg politician and reformist Galina Staravoitieva to make a statement on the failure of liberalism in Russia, as an ideology and social movement.
   
   Overall, Meier writes well and often with penetrating insight. His interviewees include a colorful cast of characters from all walks of life, including ordinary Russians, pensioners, cultural and literary figures, academics, and political leaders. As is the case with any book that often jumps from topic to topic, it is uneven at times. He jumps from past to present with regularity, and his efforts to connect the two are not always successful. In addition, like many working within this genre, Meier often can't resist the temptation to indulge in abstract philosophizing, although he is definitely less guilty of this than others. In short, I would heartily recommend this book to anyone with a general interest in Russia. Meier provides an insightful, empathetic analysis of the political, social and economic transformations wrought by the collapse of communism, and the ways in which these changes have impacted ordinary Russians' lives.



3. Meier writes about the transition pains that Russians have and are experiencing as he travels there from 1995 to 2002. From Chechnya to Sakhalin to Norlisk, Petersburg and Moscow, Meier meets with ordinary and not so ordinary Russians to get a sense of their new post-soviet existence. His knowledge of Russian history and literature makes the book even more interesting as he commonly draws from the past and literature to explain the Russian character. This is by far one of the best accounts on contemporary Russia, a travelogue that gives the reader a real sense of not only what it means to live in Russia today but a good sense of where Russia is headed.



4. The author travels all over Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union. His trip to Chechnya is really eye-opening. If you're interested in Russia, I highly recommend this book.



5. This is a superb travelogue of modern Russia, and the writer has a prose style that does justice to the subject. Engaging and exciting...