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Black Earth: A Journey Through Russia After the Fall
"A compassionate glimpse into the extremes where the new Russia meets the old," writes Robert Legvold (Foreign Affairs) about Andrew Meier's enthralling new work. Journeying across a resurgent and reputedly free land, Meier has produced a virtuosic mix of nuanced history, lyric travelogue, and unflinching reportage. Throughout, Meier captures the country's present limbo—a land rich in potential but on the brink of staggering back into tyranny—in an account that is by turns heartrending and celebratory, comic and terrifying. A 2003 New York Public Library Book to Remember. "Black Earth is the best investigation of post-Soviet Russia since David Remnick's Resurrection. Andrew Meier is a truly penetrating eyewitness."—Robert Conquest, author of The Great Terror; "If President Bush were to read only the chapters regarding Chechnya in Meier's Black Earth, he would gain a priceless education about Putin's Russia."—Zbigniew Brzezinski "Even after the fall of Communism, most American reporting on Russia often goes no further than who's in and who's out in the Kremlin and the business oligarchy. Andrew Meier's Russia reaches far beyond . . . this Russia is one where, as Meier says, history has a hard time hiding. Readers could not easily find a livelier or more insightful guide."—Adam Hochschild, author of King Leopold's Ghost and The Unquiet Ghost: Russians Remember Stalin "From the pointless war in Chechnya to the wild, exhilarating, and dispiriting East and the rise of Vladimir Putin, the former KGB officer—it's all here in great detail, written in the layers the story deserves, with insight, passion, and genuine affection."—Michael Specter, staff writer, The New Yorker; co-chief, The New York Times Moscow Bureau, 1995-98. "[Meier's] knowledge of the country and his abiding love for its people stands out on every page of this book....But it is his linguistic fluency, in particular, which enables Mr. Meier to dig so deeply into Russia's black earth."—The Economist "A wonderful travelogue that depicts the Russian people yet again trying to build a new life without really changing their old one."—William Taubman, The New York Times Book Review.
528 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2003
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 42 reviews
August 3, 2008
I read this in college and decided to give it another go to see if my now intimate familiarity with life in the former USSR would provide further insight and understanding. Ultimately, it has, but not exactly how I expected. Let me qualify by saying this is an interesting book, and the author gains access to areas and people that few others could manage (due to his fluent Russian and years of living in Russia). It's a little too ambitious and tries to cover too much, but it's a generally decent read.
That being said, Black Earth does something that I'm noticing in too much writing about the former Soviet States: it makes EVERYTHING seem unbearably bleak. The cities, the environment, the people, popular culture, the future--EVERYTHING is conveyed in a way that makes it sound like the author is doing you, the reading public, a favor by living in this horrible place and speaking with these backward people. It's as if there are no redeeming aspects to living in Russia. It's just exaggeration designed to make the book more interesting.
That being said, Black Earth does something that I'm noticing in too much writing about the former Soviet States: it makes EVERYTHING seem unbearably bleak. The cities, the environment, the people, popular culture, the future--EVERYTHING is conveyed in a way that makes it sound like the author is doing you, the reading public, a favor by living in this horrible place and speaking with these backward people. It's as if there are no redeeming aspects to living in Russia. It's just exaggeration designed to make the book more interesting.
October 23, 2013
There are small flaws I could find with this book if I chose to, but they're quite small and really don't matter: the author introduces so many various people in the book—especially in the chapter on Chechnya—that it's hard to keep straight who is who; the final chapter which is supposed to concern Moscow (as the other chapters have concerned specific places in Russia) really serves to tie up the whole book and speaks of the changes of the Putin years following the Yeltsin years but doesn't shed a whole lot of light on Moscow itself; the author goes into great detail to explain Russian history in some instances and in others, glosses over things even serious students of Russia might not know. But these really are small issues considering that this is possibly overall the finest travel-based nonfiction on Russia I've read in English. The author speaks fluent Russian and is a journalist for Time Magazine so he both knows how to communicate while exploring Russia and how to write about it.
The chapters on Norilsk and Saint Petersburg I felt were overall the best: The description of the river cruise to Norilsk was probably the best writing altogether in the book and is not to be missed, but most of the book really shines. The chapter on Chechnya is expectedly depressing and spends too much time and effort rehashing just how brutal the conflict there was—a valid point but not one that needs to be drilled in so constantly—and not quite enough time looking at the roots of the conflict and the aspects of various battles. It's clear the author wishes to command our attention to the violence, but once that's been done, he could have spent more effort on getting further into the nuances of the war because he does obviously have the understanding of the topic to do so. I also would have liked more description of place—especially in the case of Norilsk. He does this very well in speaking of the river cruise, but doesn't furnish Norilsk itself with the same benefit despite a stated desire to see its industrial landscape. The chapter on Saint Petersburg however contains both fine descriptions of the city and great exploration of the woes of contemporary Russian politics and corruption woven into the examination of the city itself. Very fine writing there and a great understanding of Russia at the early years of Putin's tenure.
Again, there are some flaws but overall it's five stars, maybe six if I could give it an extra one. I write mainly about Russia and the Balkans myself, I read fluent Russian, and I know what's going on in Russian politics and yet I learned plenty from this book. I also gained a lot of insight of how to construct narratives of place tied into explorations of politics from Meier's efforts here. If you want to understand Russia better, I can think of no better a place to start.
February 4, 2022
This book is about author Andrew Meier's experiences in Russia, where he lived for most of the 1990s. He details much of what he saw of the rise and fall of Yeltsin and the advent of Putin and the events of their rule, including the privatization of many Soviet industries ("an industrial fire sale" of epic proportions), the conflict in Chechnya (the worst fighting in Russia since Stalingrad), and the decline in social and economic well-being of many Russians.
Meier spends a good-sized portion of the book on the subject of Moscow, with its "wretched masses and gluttonous elite," a city that remains the heart of Russia, home of over ten million people, one that grew famous after the collapse of the Soviet Union for its boisterous night clubs and its nearly uncontrolled free market. At least some of the city's character derives from Mayor Yuri Luzkhov, who perhaps has influenced the city in its post-Soviet decade more than any other. Adored by Muscovites - who reelected him in 1996 with 90% of the vote - he has become noted for restoring many of the city's pre-Soviet symbols, such as rebuilding the Resurrection Gate to Red Square.
Much of Moscow and indeed Russian politics has been dominated by the self-styled oligarchs, the new millionaires and billionaires such as Boris Berezovsky, Vladimir Gusinsky, and Vladimir Potanin who arose during the "Great Grab" of the Yeltsin years, grabbing a share of the division of post-Soviet spoils and often growing preposterously rich. Their story is not all rosy however, as many have links to organized crime, and they and Russians everywhere were hit hard by the August 1998 stock market crash and a number of scandals which came to public attention such as the Mabetex scandal and the Bank of New York affair, some involving the highest levels of government.
In contrast to the oligarchs, Meier showed that many Russians were not as well off. Some longed for the days of the Soviet Union, when they felt things were better. A third of households lie below the poverty line, and HIV and drug addiction are a growing epidemic in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and elsewhere. Crime he writes is particularly rampant in St. Petersburg, where assassinations of rival politicians and industrialists are not unknown.
The most interesting section was the one on Chechnya. Located a thousand miles south of Moscow between the Black and Caspian Seas, this Connecticut-sized area of 6,000 square miles is one of the so-called small nations that lie within Russia's borders, once romanticized by Pushkin, Tolstoy, and Mikhail Lermontov in military epics starring "swarthy mountaineers with bejeweled daggers and mysterious black-eyed" women. He chronicled the war in Chechnya - really two wars - the first war began on New Year's Eve 1994 and ended on August 6, 1996, launched to quell a nationalist uprising and in which as many as 100,000 died. The peace that followed brought little more than poverty, banditry, a kidnapping trade, and some local attempts to impose Shari'a law. War with Moscow became inevitable again though when in 1999 two of the most famous fighters of the war - Shamil Basayev and the Saudi mercenary Khattab a.k.a The Black Arab - launched raids into the mostly Muslim neighboring republic of Dagestan (firmly within Russian borders) and a series of massive bombings in August and September of that year killed nearly 300 people in Moscow and elsewhere. Though there were some doubts about a Chechen link to the bombings, the nation united behind what is sometimes called Putin's War, as over a hundred thousand Russian soldiers descended upon Chechnya in September of 1999.
At great risk to himself - unescorted and unapproved journalists in Chechnya were forbidden and kidnapping is a common local occupation - Meier toured Chechnya. Meier wrote of the zachistka, Russian for a "little cleanup" or a mopping up operation, a routine of the operations during Putin's War, which generally meant a house-to-house search for members of the Chechen opposition, though some have compared them to Stalin's purges, the chiski. Sometimes these operations resulted in civilian deaths, such as occurred in the village of Aldy on February 5, 2000, recognized (eventually) by even the Russian government as a war crime, when civilians were slaughtered and people were summarily executed.
The author saw some of Siberia, flying to the city of Krasnoyarsk and boarding a steamer, sailing 1300 miles up the Yenisei, Russia's second largest river, to the mining town of Norilsk, north of the Arctic Circle. Built of the Gulag he writes, it was the stereotypical Soviet industrial city built over the bones of prisoners used as slave labor, a city ordered by Stalin to exist in one of the world's harshest climates, founded to exploit a vast mineral wealth. Though still producing most of Russia's nickel, platinum, copper, and palladium, the need for workers had decreased in the city. Sadly though many of those who live there - descendents of the original zeks or prisoners (if not former zeks themselves) - have become institutionalized, having no where else in Russia to go to.
Meier also visited Vladivostok and the surrounding region and the island of Sakhalin, the subject of much of Chekhov's writings, which well before the Soviets and Stalin was a distant destination for prisoners and exiles. A rugged region often quite isolated from Moscow, long a haven from Tsarist rule and a last holdout for White partisans during the Civil War, here the locals have long been used to self-reliance. Although the region - particularly Sakhalin - is rich in timber, fur, salmon, and offshore petroleum, development (at least to the benefit of the locals) has been stymied by what some refer to as the three Russian diseases; greed, corruption, and bureaucracy. Attempts at foreign investment in the area have been complicated if not thwarted by organized crime and corrupt politicians.
This 450 page book is too massive to adequately summarize here; excellent coverage of Russia since the Fall, with copious end notes and an exhaustive bibliography.
Meier spends a good-sized portion of the book on the subject of Moscow, with its "wretched masses and gluttonous elite," a city that remains the heart of Russia, home of over ten million people, one that grew famous after the collapse of the Soviet Union for its boisterous night clubs and its nearly uncontrolled free market. At least some of the city's character derives from Mayor Yuri Luzkhov, who perhaps has influenced the city in its post-Soviet decade more than any other. Adored by Muscovites - who reelected him in 1996 with 90% of the vote - he has become noted for restoring many of the city's pre-Soviet symbols, such as rebuilding the Resurrection Gate to Red Square.
Much of Moscow and indeed Russian politics has been dominated by the self-styled oligarchs, the new millionaires and billionaires such as Boris Berezovsky, Vladimir Gusinsky, and Vladimir Potanin who arose during the "Great Grab" of the Yeltsin years, grabbing a share of the division of post-Soviet spoils and often growing preposterously rich. Their story is not all rosy however, as many have links to organized crime, and they and Russians everywhere were hit hard by the August 1998 stock market crash and a number of scandals which came to public attention such as the Mabetex scandal and the Bank of New York affair, some involving the highest levels of government.
In contrast to the oligarchs, Meier showed that many Russians were not as well off. Some longed for the days of the Soviet Union, when they felt things were better. A third of households lie below the poverty line, and HIV and drug addiction are a growing epidemic in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and elsewhere. Crime he writes is particularly rampant in St. Petersburg, where assassinations of rival politicians and industrialists are not unknown.
The most interesting section was the one on Chechnya. Located a thousand miles south of Moscow between the Black and Caspian Seas, this Connecticut-sized area of 6,000 square miles is one of the so-called small nations that lie within Russia's borders, once romanticized by Pushkin, Tolstoy, and Mikhail Lermontov in military epics starring "swarthy mountaineers with bejeweled daggers and mysterious black-eyed" women. He chronicled the war in Chechnya - really two wars - the first war began on New Year's Eve 1994 and ended on August 6, 1996, launched to quell a nationalist uprising and in which as many as 100,000 died. The peace that followed brought little more than poverty, banditry, a kidnapping trade, and some local attempts to impose Shari'a law. War with Moscow became inevitable again though when in 1999 two of the most famous fighters of the war - Shamil Basayev and the Saudi mercenary Khattab a.k.a The Black Arab - launched raids into the mostly Muslim neighboring republic of Dagestan (firmly within Russian borders) and a series of massive bombings in August and September of that year killed nearly 300 people in Moscow and elsewhere. Though there were some doubts about a Chechen link to the bombings, the nation united behind what is sometimes called Putin's War, as over a hundred thousand Russian soldiers descended upon Chechnya in September of 1999.
At great risk to himself - unescorted and unapproved journalists in Chechnya were forbidden and kidnapping is a common local occupation - Meier toured Chechnya. Meier wrote of the zachistka, Russian for a "little cleanup" or a mopping up operation, a routine of the operations during Putin's War, which generally meant a house-to-house search for members of the Chechen opposition, though some have compared them to Stalin's purges, the chiski. Sometimes these operations resulted in civilian deaths, such as occurred in the village of Aldy on February 5, 2000, recognized (eventually) by even the Russian government as a war crime, when civilians were slaughtered and people were summarily executed.
The author saw some of Siberia, flying to the city of Krasnoyarsk and boarding a steamer, sailing 1300 miles up the Yenisei, Russia's second largest river, to the mining town of Norilsk, north of the Arctic Circle. Built of the Gulag he writes, it was the stereotypical Soviet industrial city built over the bones of prisoners used as slave labor, a city ordered by Stalin to exist in one of the world's harshest climates, founded to exploit a vast mineral wealth. Though still producing most of Russia's nickel, platinum, copper, and palladium, the need for workers had decreased in the city. Sadly though many of those who live there - descendents of the original zeks or prisoners (if not former zeks themselves) - have become institutionalized, having no where else in Russia to go to.
Meier also visited Vladivostok and the surrounding region and the island of Sakhalin, the subject of much of Chekhov's writings, which well before the Soviets and Stalin was a distant destination for prisoners and exiles. A rugged region often quite isolated from Moscow, long a haven from Tsarist rule and a last holdout for White partisans during the Civil War, here the locals have long been used to self-reliance. Although the region - particularly Sakhalin - is rich in timber, fur, salmon, and offshore petroleum, development (at least to the benefit of the locals) has been stymied by what some refer to as the three Russian diseases; greed, corruption, and bureaucracy. Attempts at foreign investment in the area have been complicated if not thwarted by organized crime and corrupt politicians.
This 450 page book is too massive to adequately summarize here; excellent coverage of Russia since the Fall, with copious end notes and an exhaustive bibliography.
February 14, 2009
REVIEW WHILE READING: This is an informative read about the oft-unrealized dreams and ambitions of those trying to make a future in post-Soviet Russia, as well as how little change from those days is apparent in that process, particularly in the way the leaders run the country. Kind of in the style of "Lenin's Tomb" in that it portrays snippets of individual lives as a way of talking about larger issues.
POST-READING REVIEW: In reading this book, one gets a panoramic view of the struggles facing modern Russia and its citizens. The book focuses not only on present struggles, but also on how the present is haunted (and, in some ways, crippled) by the past. This panoramic view is comprised of glimpses into various people's lives (factory workers, former KGB officials, soldiers, fishermen, Chechen rebels, aging grandmothers, etc.), from four selected regions in Russia: "The South" as a way to talk about the Chechen war, providing perspectives from both sides; "The West" to describe Petersburg's struggle to define itself; "The North" to explore the harrowing past of gulag labor and its present day effects, focusing on Norilsk; "The East" to describe the environmental disasters off the coasts of Sakhalin; and "Zero Gravity" to describe how the nation's capital looks for a promising future while managing the crises covering the entire country.
The book can be tedious at times, as the shifts between exposition and narrative aren't always fluid, and the author also tries to effect a certain mysterious, poetic quality to events and stories that sometimes fits and other times leave one (at least me) wanting him to cut to the chase.
Altogether, an impressively researched book, though certainly not to be read lightly or casually. (Really, about 3.5 stars)
POST-READING REVIEW: In reading this book, one gets a panoramic view of the struggles facing modern Russia and its citizens. The book focuses not only on present struggles, but also on how the present is haunted (and, in some ways, crippled) by the past. This panoramic view is comprised of glimpses into various people's lives (factory workers, former KGB officials, soldiers, fishermen, Chechen rebels, aging grandmothers, etc.), from four selected regions in Russia: "The South" as a way to talk about the Chechen war, providing perspectives from both sides; "The West" to describe Petersburg's struggle to define itself; "The North" to explore the harrowing past of gulag labor and its present day effects, focusing on Norilsk; "The East" to describe the environmental disasters off the coasts of Sakhalin; and "Zero Gravity" to describe how the nation's capital looks for a promising future while managing the crises covering the entire country.
The book can be tedious at times, as the shifts between exposition and narrative aren't always fluid, and the author also tries to effect a certain mysterious, poetic quality to events and stories that sometimes fits and other times leave one (at least me) wanting him to cut to the chase.
Altogether, an impressively researched book, though certainly not to be read lightly or casually. (Really, about 3.5 stars)
April 1, 2007
Black Earth is an engrossing account of traveling to the four corners of modern Russia. The author is an American who fell in love with Russia (a story to which I'm sympathetic). He smuggles himself into the site of a massacre in Chechnya, visits a city in the mountains built by the gulag, and flies to islands where oil drillers still hunt their own food. Throughout, he tries to reconcile the beauty of the Russian soul with the currents of violence and despair that run through it.
June 30, 2020
I'm remembering that I don't really like travel log books.
This was okay. I enjoyed the parts that pertained to Russian history, and I did learn some new things about Russian oil wealth and the HIV epidemic there. On the whole I already knew most of the history discussed like the war with Chechnya and the Siege of Leningrad. I guess reading about other people having interesting experiences just makes me sad about all of the stuff I will probably never get to experience.
This was okay. I enjoyed the parts that pertained to Russian history, and I did learn some new things about Russian oil wealth and the HIV epidemic there. On the whole I already knew most of the history discussed like the war with Chechnya and the Siege of Leningrad. I guess reading about other people having interesting experiences just makes me sad about all of the stuff I will probably never get to experience.
July 14, 2011
Although this book is wonderfully researched on an extremely personal level, it is far too bleak to be enjoyable. Obviously there were and continue to be major problems in Russia, culturally, politically and economically. That doesn't mean that those should be the primary focus. There are instances in the book where he does provide glimpses into more positive elements in juxtaposition to the bad ones, but they were too few and far between (and I'm not talking about the section detailing the war in Chechnya which did not have a bright side to consider.) But it almost seemed mocking whenever he told an anecdote about someone from a small town who said that they enjoyed their way of life. Like these were presented in a "Can you believe this?" kind of way alongside the evidence as to why this was completely ridiculous. But a lot of it was extremely meaningful, I just wish there had been a little less of a focus on the bleakness. I love St. Petersburg and the section relating to it was so depressing, being almost entirely about the HIV epidemic and the murder of a prominent liberal politician. Both of these are extremely important and the information about them was eye opening and appreciated, but there was nothing positive to counter it. As in everything, balance is essential and this book weighs a little too heavily on one side.
February 7, 2008
If there's a guiding idea in the book--in which Meier, a former Time reporter, travels the periphery of Russia over 5 years--it's that the quality that best characterizes post-Soviet life is denial. In contrast to post-WWII Germany, in which repentance and memorial were the national mode of closure, the psyche of Russia is that of an amnesiac. Normal'no. Everything is fine. How else do you elect a former KGB officer President?
Of course, the book isn't all doom and gloom, and political doubts are nicely matched with the warmth of Meier's portraits.
The book's twin effect is nicely captured in its title: fertile soil and scorched earth.
Of course, the book isn't all doom and gloom, and political doubts are nicely matched with the warmth of Meier's portraits.
The book's twin effect is nicely captured in its title: fertile soil and scorched earth.
January 5, 2015
all in all, quite a good book, but it's quite meandering without focusing its narrative. it takes a long while, but it gives you a good mood in turn-of-the-millennium Russia, but the content alternates between cataloging every conversation he's ever had in Russia (relevant or not) and then using 80 pages to belabor one fairly obvious point.
you'll get a good feel for conversation in Russian, but it's easy to get lost in the matreushka-like conversations within the conversations within the conversations with the conversations
you'll get a good feel for conversation in Russian, but it's easy to get lost in the matreushka-like conversations within the conversations within the conversations with the conversations
March 7, 2008
Russia is an enormous country. If you want to visit, but don't have the time, this travelogue takes you to Moscow, St. Petersburg, Chechnya, Siberia and Vladivostok in the east. The book is not a book of tourism. Author Andrew Meier was the Russia correspondent for 'Time' and his political and cultural insights are fascinating. The title has a double meaning: the black, fertile land upon Russia sits, but also the dark days which occurred in Russia after the fall of Communism.
December 8, 2008
Equally expressing what a place is and who the people there are, as individuals, while giving a balanced historical perspective is a tough job. Meier is able to be authentic in criticizing what's happening and in his warmth towards the everyday Russians about whom he writes. His epic journalism doesn't shirk the details -- this is exactly how one needs to talk about the post-Soviet sphere (I think).
July 8, 2008
A great first hand journalist's account of the various regions of Russia and the former Soviet Union. This provides great insight into the mindset of common people in Chechnya, Azbakhya, Chernobyl, Sakhalin Island, and elsewhere. A monument to the tragedy that has been the Russian state's rise to modernity, Socialist Empire, and beyond.
July 27, 2010
A fantastically written book that takes readers on a guided tour not just through the physical landscape of Russia, but also through the social, political, and emotional landscape of a country still struggling to find a national identity. I usually struggle with nonfiction, but this was a book I didn't want to stop reading.
June 22, 2014
After traveling to St. Petersburg and Moscow in 2005, this is the book that has given me the context of Russian history and culture I wish I had before my trip there. The author takes you south, north, east, and west, exploring the complexities in Chechnya and political ebbs and flows that start in the Kremlin and ripple out across the entire country. Long book, great read.
September 4, 2012
Really great book If you're looking for an unvarnished profile of several areas of Russia. This is not a light-hearted travelogue, though, and I admit I was unprepared for how difficult parts of the book were to read. At the end, I'm glad that I chose it.
August 7, 2007
This is a fascinating but (so far) very depressing look at Russia in the early 00s.
September 27, 2007
Not a exactly a revelation but an excellent companion for those who've picked up to Imperium and/or Chienne de Guerre.
April 9, 2008
The post paristroyka Russia. Influence of mafya and curruption. The dehibilitating economy. I'ts just getting better.
June 24, 2008
Overall, this was a good book. For the most part, it offered good, honest insights and was diverse. However, the book seemed to drag on longer than necessary.
November 12, 2012
Interesting profile about the new Russia.
April 1, 2013
Vivid portrait of post-Soviet Russia, a journey through the landscape that also explores the shattered dreams of its people
January 9, 2014
Exquisite writing and extensive access highlight this journey to the far corners of post-Soviet Russia.
February 6, 2016
A complete journey through the Russian "continent"that now is more clear for me. North , south , east and west.Congratulations to the auctor Andrew Meier.
January 6, 2016
Interesting in some parts... others dragged on for forty pages about the precious minerals industry in the town of Krasnoyark or whatever.
January 1, 2023
This book has spoiled me. I now expect all my non-fictions to be as well written as this. Andrew Meier is fantastic, his capacity to set the scene and then unravel it gradually is just incredible.
Even though this book was peppered with instances of atrocities, far-flung towns and lonely voyages, there are some particular scenes, which are consequential and inconsequential, both, that are so well constructed that I can pull them right out of my imagination in a flash.
The chapter on Norilsk is arguably the best written. Andrew Meier is at his peak here, he combines the scenery with social context and pithy just so outstandingly, while the chapter on the massacare in Aldy also stays with you. I wasn't too fond of the last chapter on Moscow and some conclusions Meier pulled together about political dealings in Russia, but overall it's a solid read. I went on a unique journey with this book and saw some things I would've never been exposed to myself.
Even though this book was peppered with instances of atrocities, far-flung towns and lonely voyages, there are some particular scenes, which are consequential and inconsequential, both, that are so well constructed that I can pull them right out of my imagination in a flash.
The chapter on Norilsk is arguably the best written. Andrew Meier is at his peak here, he combines the scenery with social context and pithy just so outstandingly, while the chapter on the massacare in Aldy also stays with you. I wasn't too fond of the last chapter on Moscow and some conclusions Meier pulled together about political dealings in Russia, but overall it's a solid read. I went on a unique journey with this book and saw some things I would've never been exposed to myself.
March 30, 2008
i picked this up because i heard it was a decent follow up to ryszard kapuscinski's imperium, one of my favorite books ever. and indeed it is. meier doesn't have kapuscinski's knack for lyricism and brevity, but he makes up for it with comprehensive investigations. the book's a bit on the long-ish side, and certain portions work better than others (particularly a long passage documenting atrocities in chechnya). increasingly, books that approach world history through the lens of a travelogue seem to interest me. recommend me stuff accordingly!
December 17, 2017
Fantastic
All I can say is: What a great book. The author takes you on a personal yet also sociological journey through the fledgling Russian Federation. What could be a dry and uninspiring list of facts is instead a poignant and also sad narrative, with unforgettable characters who have been part of the larger Russian -Soviet narrative. I simply could not put it down.
All I can say is: What a great book. The author takes you on a personal yet also sociological journey through the fledgling Russian Federation. What could be a dry and uninspiring list of facts is instead a poignant and also sad narrative, with unforgettable characters who have been part of the larger Russian -Soviet narrative. I simply could not put it down.
October 3, 2009
A truly great book on Russia in the 1990s, a must-read for anyone dealing with Russia.
Want to read
June 21, 2009Black Earth: A Journey through Russia After the Fall by Andrew Meier (2005)
January 4, 2010
Great nonfiction writing which provides insights into the diversity of culture within Russia and its large geography.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 42 reviews