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A Great Current Running: The U.S.-Russian Lena River Expedition with Lena Reunion
In the summer of 1991, the author organized an expedition from the source to the mouth of the longest and most pristine of Siberia's great rivers, the Lena. Eight Americans and four Russians made the 2,700-mile journey to the Arctic Coast.
As they rode the great current north, they met and spoke with coal miners, reindeer herders and people living hard lives in villages huddled on the river's bank
Returning from the Arctic to Moscow on August 18, they woke to the rumble of tanks through the city's streets, and were there to witness and report the failed coup that brought the collapse of the Soviet system.
Thirty-two full color plates capture the adventure on the river and the drama of the historic events at the journey's end.
429 pages, Hardcover
First published March 1, 1994
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 28, 2024
Shoutout Myopic Books in Chicago. I picked up my copy (signed by the author out to his friend John from Ottawa University) in the naval history section as well as a book called Public Secrets by Ken Knabb which was a collection of random essays. Decided to read this one first and I gained an invaluable piece of information; obscure literature is still good literature.
Charles Guseswelle spent YEARS planning an elaborate Siberian adventure, having to deal with Cold War politics, funding and sponsor issues, and a labyrinth of other issues. After a decade of brainstorming, networking and planning, he finally got clearance from the KGB to traverse the Lena River, despite many saying it was too dangerous. What's funny is that the dude still thought it was a good idea to bring his wife and 2 daughters (I tried connecting with both of them on Linkedin) along for some reason. My man is a straight DAWG.
Why might someone go through all this trouble just to spend months on a treacherous Siberian river? Because fuck it, why not? Gusewelle, who by trade is a journalist, briefly explains that his goal was to document stories of Siberian villagers post-Cold War. He says this, but it's quite apparent that boy a LIAR. The real reason he wanted to go on this adventure was to quench his sick fetish that many men suffer from (I included), and that's to do cool random shit for no reason.
So many weird and interesting things happened throughout his retelling. He got to go to that one huge diamond mine in Russia, just google "Huge diamond Russian mine" and you'll see it. Thing is fucking massive. He got to herd reindeer. And at one point one of the guys almost drowns in the fucking river. He even got to see the Russian Military try to overthrow the government. So much other notable stuff happened but I can't remember.
The book really really resonated with me. Just so sick, I wish I could do something like this with my buddies.
Another interesting fact is that I'm from Chicago and I'd never heard of the Kansas City Star newspaper. Charles Gusewelle, from what I've read about him, was a big time columnist for the newspaper and he had legit fans who would read all of his work. (makes sense, he writes well). But the funny thing is that the book that I decided to read immediately after this one, by pure chance was by another Kansas City Star writer, Richard Rhodes. Supa random ! Like what ?
Bye everyone, I hope you enjoyed my review. Thx
Charles Guseswelle spent YEARS planning an elaborate Siberian adventure, having to deal with Cold War politics, funding and sponsor issues, and a labyrinth of other issues. After a decade of brainstorming, networking and planning, he finally got clearance from the KGB to traverse the Lena River, despite many saying it was too dangerous. What's funny is that the dude still thought it was a good idea to bring his wife and 2 daughters (I tried connecting with both of them on Linkedin) along for some reason. My man is a straight DAWG.
Why might someone go through all this trouble just to spend months on a treacherous Siberian river? Because fuck it, why not? Gusewelle, who by trade is a journalist, briefly explains that his goal was to document stories of Siberian villagers post-Cold War. He says this, but it's quite apparent that boy a LIAR. The real reason he wanted to go on this adventure was to quench his sick fetish that many men suffer from (I included), and that's to do cool random shit for no reason.
So many weird and interesting things happened throughout his retelling. He got to go to that one huge diamond mine in Russia, just google "Huge diamond Russian mine" and you'll see it. Thing is fucking massive. He got to herd reindeer. And at one point one of the guys almost drowns in the fucking river. He even got to see the Russian Military try to overthrow the government. So much other notable stuff happened but I can't remember.
The book really really resonated with me. Just so sick, I wish I could do something like this with my buddies.
Another interesting fact is that I'm from Chicago and I'd never heard of the Kansas City Star newspaper. Charles Gusewelle, from what I've read about him, was a big time columnist for the newspaper and he had legit fans who would read all of his work. (makes sense, he writes well). But the funny thing is that the book that I decided to read immediately after this one, by pure chance was by another Kansas City Star writer, Richard Rhodes. Supa random ! Like what ?
Bye everyone, I hope you enjoyed my review. Thx
September 9, 2015
This was in Richard Lyle Faris' library. I was mesmerized reading it as I know he was some years ago when it first came out.
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