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Title: Black Earth: A Journey through Russia after the Fall by Andrew Meier ISBN: 0393051781 Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: 02 September, 2003 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $28.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.8
Rating: 4
Summary: Disturbing Portrait of Modern Russia
Comment: Andrew Meier spent much of the past decade in Russia, and is as familiar as any Western writer with the goings on in that tragic land. In "Black Earth," Meier follows the tradition of the best travel writers, journeying beyond Moscow for a first hand account of the country itself. His travels take him to Chechnya, Norilsk, Sakahlin Island and St. Petersburg. In each place he documents what he sees and what has gone wrong as Russia attempts to awake from its Soviet nightmare.
"Black Earth" is, perhaps, best thought of as a follow up to writer David Remnick's twin classics "Lennin's Tomb" and Resurrection," which covered Russian life in the first half of the 1990s. Meier paints with broad rhetorical strokes, weaving in elements of history, literature and statistics with his observations. Though a bit long winded at times, "Black Earth" is vital reading for anyone interested in modern Russia.
Rating: 4
Summary: Very insightful
Comment: I read this book while I was on vacation in Russia and the Ukraine. I thought it was quite good, although I thought the section on Chechnya rambled slightly.
As far as this book being an example of too much bad news, my response is this is Russia, for God's sake. There is no shortage of bad news there. How could you write an upbeat book about Chechnya, the history of the Gulag, Sakhalin Island (the section about that actually does have some "good" news), or the mafia state that has emerged in post-Soviet Russia?
Face it. You can't. As for this book's merits, all I can say is that reading it made me far more informed about current affairs in Russia (something my Russia tour guides remarked about frequently).
If you want "cheerful," don't read books about countries with these kinds of problems.
Rating: 5
Summary: A stunning journal of humanity called Russia.
Comment: BLACK EARTH is captivating. In no small way, this book opens your chest and reaches deep into your heart. With passages reminiscent of John McPhee and even Steinbeck where writers' passions nearly cause the subjects to jump off the page - Meier lyrically weaves stories of both journalist and witness. The result is a tribute to the people who walk the land which is Russia today.
Meier is on an extraordinary adventure which he shares unselfishly with the reader. Undaunted by the scale of the landscape, his book maps a living portrait of today's revolution of the Russian society with remarkable stories underscored by poignant photographs to bring it home.
Whether read cover to cover or story to story, BLACK EARTH reads true.
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