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Siberian Dawn: A Journey Across the New Russia
No guidebook existed for my route; no one had ever done it before", writes Tayler. As the first American to visit many of the places he goes, his reports on a country in transition are timely and unforgettable. It is also the account of one man's love for a fragile, desperately troubled country.
301 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 2000
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About the author
Jeffrey Tayler
18 books37 followersJeffrey Tayler is a U.S.-born author and journalist. He is the Russia correspondent for the Atlantic Monthly and a contributor to several other magazines as well as to NPR's All Things Considered. He has written several non-fiction books about different regions of the world which include Facing the Congo, Siberian Dawn, Glory in a Camel's Eye, and Angry Wind, the latter being a portrait of a journey through the Muslim portion of black Africa. His most recent book, River of No Reprieve, is about a challenging raft trip down Russia's Lena River.
Tayler is an accomplished linguist; in addition to his native English, he is fluent in Russian, Arabic, French, and modern Greek, and has a functioning knowledge of Spanish and Turkish.
Tayler is an accomplished linguist; in addition to his native English, he is fluent in Russian, Arabic, French, and modern Greek, and has a functioning knowledge of Spanish and Turkish.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
November 8, 2020
Tayler, who has now published a handful of books, started out with this one on Russia. Despite the dated looking cover, I enjoyed this book a lot - more than I expected.
Tayler explains his long term interest in Russia, followed by a long trip undertaken in 1993 from Magadan in Eastern Siberia on rarely travelled roads heading west, eventually to Ukraine and ending in Poland. Warned by almost all people he spoke to, not to go, and that he risked his life, Tayler kept travelling anyway.
Luck played its part in his safety, but also his drive in not giving up when events looked hopeless. His fluent Russian was also a major factor, and while not perfect native Russian, it allowed him to be conveniently mistaken as from the Baltics.
However, Tayler's book doesn't go out of its way to paint a rosy picture and the grimness of Siberia is plain for all to see. Long a place of exile, its harshness in winter matched by mud and mosquitoes in summer, and the road from Magadan to Yakutsk in particular is risky. While Tayler also details the social problems of Siberia (Russia in general) with alcohol, and the poisoning of various cities from industrial pollution with the terrible health effects, he makes his story personal with his interactions with people.
Travelling by a combination of hitch-hiking, arranged rides, train and the occasional bus, Tayler is exposed to a range of people (of various levels of sobriety), and experiences. While he occasionally includes random interactions which seem out of context, the reader gets the impression this is very much the context of his interactions - sometimes quite unusual and random.
Perhaps one of the more surprising aspects of his travel was how far people went out of their way to help him when he told them he was American. Several times he was told he was the first American to visit places, he was afforded special treatment by officials. Tayler had relatively few run-ins with bureaucracy - something that is really surprising, considering how Russia is now with the complexity for foreigners to travel. He even had a visa limited to Moscow, and was challenged on that fact only a couple of times, to which he just argued his way through.
Set out with a chapter per city, I found Siberian Dawn a well paced read. It perhaps lacked a crescendo at the end, the epilogue was ok, but not a conclusion as such. Still, a very good read, especially when put into context of the time of travel - the USSR having dissolved less than two years before, and Russian borders (especially Siberia) only recently opened, and certainly not used to visitors.
4.5 stars, rounded up.
Tayler explains his long term interest in Russia, followed by a long trip undertaken in 1993 from Magadan in Eastern Siberia on rarely travelled roads heading west, eventually to Ukraine and ending in Poland. Warned by almost all people he spoke to, not to go, and that he risked his life, Tayler kept travelling anyway.
Luck played its part in his safety, but also his drive in not giving up when events looked hopeless. His fluent Russian was also a major factor, and while not perfect native Russian, it allowed him to be conveniently mistaken as from the Baltics.
However, Tayler's book doesn't go out of its way to paint a rosy picture and the grimness of Siberia is plain for all to see. Long a place of exile, its harshness in winter matched by mud and mosquitoes in summer, and the road from Magadan to Yakutsk in particular is risky. While Tayler also details the social problems of Siberia (Russia in general) with alcohol, and the poisoning of various cities from industrial pollution with the terrible health effects, he makes his story personal with his interactions with people.
Travelling by a combination of hitch-hiking, arranged rides, train and the occasional bus, Tayler is exposed to a range of people (of various levels of sobriety), and experiences. While he occasionally includes random interactions which seem out of context, the reader gets the impression this is very much the context of his interactions - sometimes quite unusual and random.
Perhaps one of the more surprising aspects of his travel was how far people went out of their way to help him when he told them he was American. Several times he was told he was the first American to visit places, he was afforded special treatment by officials. Tayler had relatively few run-ins with bureaucracy - something that is really surprising, considering how Russia is now with the complexity for foreigners to travel. He even had a visa limited to Moscow, and was challenged on that fact only a couple of times, to which he just argued his way through.
Set out with a chapter per city, I found Siberian Dawn a well paced read. It perhaps lacked a crescendo at the end, the epilogue was ok, but not a conclusion as such. Still, a very good read, especially when put into context of the time of travel - the USSR having dissolved less than two years before, and Russian borders (especially Siberia) only recently opened, and certainly not used to visitors.
4.5 stars, rounded up.
July 31, 2021
Well written and interesting, although i was disappointed that only about half was actually about Siberia.
October 6, 2010
An epic journey made by an American across Russia from Eastern Siberia to Warsaw. It's nearly impossible for me to imagine how crazy this trip was given that it was 1993 and the USSR had recently dissolved.
I think what I enjoy the most about Mr.Tayler's books is that he avoids generalizing as much as possible and presents his interactions with people. It is through those interactions that you can get a sense of the people and the places.
I will probably never see these places but having read this book I have idea of what they must be like.
Mr. Tayler is an intrepid world traveler who enjoys upending commonly held opinions of what is safe or even possible by meeting people, befriending them and traveling in whatever way is native to that region.
Plus he uses words that force me to open the dictionary, that is truly rare these days.
I think what I enjoy the most about Mr.Tayler's books is that he avoids generalizing as much as possible and presents his interactions with people. It is through those interactions that you can get a sense of the people and the places.
I will probably never see these places but having read this book I have idea of what they must be like.
Mr. Tayler is an intrepid world traveler who enjoys upending commonly held opinions of what is safe or even possible by meeting people, befriending them and traveling in whatever way is native to that region.
Plus he uses words that force me to open the dictionary, that is truly rare these days.
August 31, 2007
It's a spectacular adventure that Mr. Tayler undertook--you'll never again hear of a Westerner traveling through Russia the way he did, when he did it.
It reminded me a lot of Mongolia--the limitless boredom that you encounter in the midst of what is by rights an excellent adventure. The loneliness and sour moods.
It reminded me a lot of Mongolia--the limitless boredom that you encounter in the midst of what is by rights an excellent adventure. The loneliness and sour moods.
February 17, 2020
{3.5 stars} The premise was extremely interesting and I appreciate that Mr. Tayler chose not to dramatize journey, but rather provide an accurate portrait of Russia.
I have only one con:
-The structure of the book didn’t really work for me, I felt like Tayler’s narrative wasn’t building anything up, other than to the end of his journey. Towards the end, reading this book became a bit of a chore, but I am very glad to have read it.
I have only one con:
-The structure of the book didn’t really work for me, I felt like Tayler’s narrative wasn’t building anything up, other than to the end of his journey. Towards the end, reading this book became a bit of a chore, but I am very glad to have read it.
August 6, 2018
Tayler is fantastic. Each person he met on this trip is described with such vividness that I felt I made the journey across Russia with him. When he felt safe and joyous, so did I. I felt the tension of Chelyabinsk and Tomsk, as well as the relief of Lvov and Moscow. Tayler is an author who truly entraps his readers. This is definitely one of my favorites.
April 16, 2019
Real story of the author's journey across Russia from the far-east to Moscow.
Keeps you reading!
A window into russian life.
Keeps you reading!
A window into russian life.
October 13, 2008
947.086 T An account of one person as he traveled or hitchhiked with various truckers and other Russians across Siberia. Some of it was intriguingly scary and gross but never dull.
November 17, 2008
Another great book that reflects my experiences in Kaz. This is about the whole of Russia, but such a reminder....
June 6, 2014
Awesome story of a journalist's adventures traveling across the former Soviet Union. Great travel literature as well as giving a first-hand view of the people and culture of Russia.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews