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Troubled Water: A Journey Around the Black Sea
A history of the countries bordering the Black Sea told through the stories of the people who live there.
Fringing the Black Sea is a diverse array of countries, some centuries old and others emerging only after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Jens Mühling travels through this region, telling the stories of people he meets along the way in order to paint a picture of the mix of cultures found here and to understand the present against a history stretching back to the arrival of Ancient Greek settlers and beyond.
A fluent Russian speaker with a knack for gaining the trust of those he meets, Mühling brings together a cast of characters as diverse as the stories he hears, all of whom are willing to tell him their complex, contradictory, and often fantastical tales full of grief and legend. He meets descendants of the so-called Pontic Greeks, whom Stalin deported to Central Asia and who have now returned; Circassians who fled to Syria a century ago and whose great-great-grandchildren have returned to Abkhazia; and members of ethnic minorities like the Georgian Mingrelians or Bulgarian Muslims, expelled to Turkey in the summer of 1989. Mühling captures the region’s uneasy alliance of tradition and modernity and the diverse humanity of those who live there.
Fringing the Black Sea is a diverse array of countries, some centuries old and others emerging only after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Jens Mühling travels through this region, telling the stories of people he meets along the way in order to paint a picture of the mix of cultures found here and to understand the present against a history stretching back to the arrival of Ancient Greek settlers and beyond.
A fluent Russian speaker with a knack for gaining the trust of those he meets, Mühling brings together a cast of characters as diverse as the stories he hears, all of whom are willing to tell him their complex, contradictory, and often fantastical tales full of grief and legend. He meets descendants of the so-called Pontic Greeks, whom Stalin deported to Central Asia and who have now returned; Circassians who fled to Syria a century ago and whose great-great-grandchildren have returned to Abkhazia; and members of ethnic minorities like the Georgian Mingrelians or Bulgarian Muslims, expelled to Turkey in the summer of 1989. Mühling captures the region’s uneasy alliance of tradition and modernity and the diverse humanity of those who live there.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published March 10, 2020
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206 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
August 24, 2023
A lovely book overall--well-constructed; printed on quality paper. Mr. Mühling's travel writing coupled with historical details of the countries around the Black Sea makes for a wonderful read.
December 22, 2021
Whenever Mühling traces the outline of the Black Sea with a finger the shape reminds him of a horse head with the muzzle nosing Georgia. , the ear in between Ukraine and Russia and the neck is the Bosporus. It is an ancient landscape where, if you know where to look, you can still find traces of the Greeks amongst all the other shifting peoples that have populated its coasts.
He was unsure where to start the journey though and after some deliberation chose a place a little away from the coastline at the foot of Mount Ararat. It was here that the is a grain of truth in the legends that link the mountain to the sea and those are the flood stories that tell of the time before there was water and of the arrival of the floods. Before long it was time to head to Russia to see the sea for himself once again.
I have seen the Black Sea from all sides, and from none of them was it black.
At the bridge in Taman, he stood at one end, if everything went to plan, the next time he sees it would be from the other side having taken a long way round and not crossed it. After seeing a dog drink from the sea he tested the water to see how salty it was and was surprised to find it is mostly freshwater. It was a habit that he would carry on with all the way around and notice that the brackishness increases the further west he goes.
The borders in the regions have changed many times and even now are still changing and on his travels around the sea finds Turks in Russia, and Greeks who speak Turkish in Russia. As he travels around the Black Sea he finds that the cultures have their distinct differences and yet blend into each other. In Georgia, he watches as the oldest trees are collected by the oligarch for his private property and is scared to death by a driver as he is in their car heading towards the Romanian border. He finds all of the people he meets welcoming and often willing to ply him with drink of varying quality…
I thought this was a really good mix of travelogue and reportage from Mühling as he finds his way around the countries surrounding the Black Sea. He has a way of engaging with the people that he meets that brings the best out of them. His openness with them means that they respond well and he gets taken to places that he might not have had the opportunity to see as a regular tourist. As a side note, I think that the translation is really good too, Pare has picked up on the nuance that Mühling had in his original text.
He was unsure where to start the journey though and after some deliberation chose a place a little away from the coastline at the foot of Mount Ararat. It was here that the is a grain of truth in the legends that link the mountain to the sea and those are the flood stories that tell of the time before there was water and of the arrival of the floods. Before long it was time to head to Russia to see the sea for himself once again.
I have seen the Black Sea from all sides, and from none of them was it black.
At the bridge in Taman, he stood at one end, if everything went to plan, the next time he sees it would be from the other side having taken a long way round and not crossed it. After seeing a dog drink from the sea he tested the water to see how salty it was and was surprised to find it is mostly freshwater. It was a habit that he would carry on with all the way around and notice that the brackishness increases the further west he goes.
The borders in the regions have changed many times and even now are still changing and on his travels around the sea finds Turks in Russia, and Greeks who speak Turkish in Russia. As he travels around the Black Sea he finds that the cultures have their distinct differences and yet blend into each other. In Georgia, he watches as the oldest trees are collected by the oligarch for his private property and is scared to death by a driver as he is in their car heading towards the Romanian border. He finds all of the people he meets welcoming and often willing to ply him with drink of varying quality…
I thought this was a really good mix of travelogue and reportage from Mühling as he finds his way around the countries surrounding the Black Sea. He has a way of engaging with the people that he meets that brings the best out of them. His openness with them means that they respond well and he gets taken to places that he might not have had the opportunity to see as a regular tourist. As a side note, I think that the translation is really good too, Pare has picked up on the nuance that Mühling had in his original text.
June 17, 2022
A very worthy successor to Neal Ascherson's "Black Sea: The Birthplace of Civilization and Barbarism;' really more of a 4.5 star rating. Jens Mühling takes a clockwise journey around the Black Sea beginning at the Kerch Straight and ending directly across the bridge from where he began. Along the way he visits every country bordering the Black Sea and encounters a wide variety of people who relate various aspects of their lives to him vis-a-vis the social and political turmoil in the region. Really a continuation of the same turmoil that Neal Ascherson documented about 25 years ago. Perhaps the most poignant portion of the book for me is the chapter on Crimea where Müling meets with members of three pre-Russian peoples of the peninsula; the Tatars, the Karaites and Krymchaks. One group Muslim, the other two Jewish these communities have been decimated over the centuries by Russian colonization and 20th century ethnic cleansing. Highly recommended.
January 5, 2025
thank god i was not born on the black sea. although i’d have a great excuse to be an alcoholic.
June 13, 2022
A combination travelogue and cultural history of the coast of the Black Sea, beginning and ending at the Kerch Bridge that just got finished in 2019, connecting Crimea with the Russian mainland. The author, Jens Muhling, is a German historian/commentator specializing in Russian topics, and he really has a feel for the human side of the Slavic soul. Catching trains, buses, and rides with just plain individuals (hitch hiking, etc.) over the course of an entire year, he experienced more in that year than anybody could ever learn from a lifetime of researching in any library or ivory tower academic seat. And his writing is compassionately clear, except for the fairly regular alcohol besotted nights of Russian style drinking. Very common among all the other Slavs also. He really enjoyed going native all the way.
I learned more about that part of the world, both history & the impact of current events, than I have from any other source since Putin's war against Ukraine started. On the history side, he has a wonderful grasp of the early Greek settlers of the first trading posts among the original Scythians, well more than 2000 years ago. Two (of his many) goals was to visit ancient Greek ruins, Proto Indo-European kurgans, and other reminders of the now forgotten cultures that have since disappeared, and dive into the backstories of the impact these cultures had in their time, as well as to this day.
His stories of the individuals he got to know, made me feel like I was traveling along with him. It was a trip I would have absolutely loved. He is a writer I will want to read more of.
I learned more about that part of the world, both history & the impact of current events, than I have from any other source since Putin's war against Ukraine started. On the history side, he has a wonderful grasp of the early Greek settlers of the first trading posts among the original Scythians, well more than 2000 years ago. Two (of his many) goals was to visit ancient Greek ruins, Proto Indo-European kurgans, and other reminders of the now forgotten cultures that have since disappeared, and dive into the backstories of the impact these cultures had in their time, as well as to this day.
His stories of the individuals he got to know, made me feel like I was traveling along with him. It was a trip I would have absolutely loved. He is a writer I will want to read more of.
August 25, 2023
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. It gave me a far better understanding of the people who live along the Black Sea coast.
The author begins his nine-month-long journey on the Russian side of the Kerch Bridge which was not yet open when this saga began. Muhling starts a clockwise journey traveling through Russia, Abkhasia, Georgia, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania and finally Ukraine. The journey comes to an end on the Crimean side of the bridge.
With the Russia/Ukraine war now in full progress, I found this travel adventure highly informative. It soon becomes clear that the Black Sea basin is a region of constant churn and displacement as minority religious and people groups are persecuted and shunted about, and this has been the case for centuries. The personal stories were often tragic, but they also demonstrate resilience.
The author begins his nine-month-long journey on the Russian side of the Kerch Bridge which was not yet open when this saga began. Muhling starts a clockwise journey traveling through Russia, Abkhasia, Georgia, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania and finally Ukraine. The journey comes to an end on the Crimean side of the bridge.
With the Russia/Ukraine war now in full progress, I found this travel adventure highly informative. It soon becomes clear that the Black Sea basin is a region of constant churn and displacement as minority religious and people groups are persecuted and shunted about, and this has been the case for centuries. The personal stories were often tragic, but they also demonstrate resilience.
April 1, 2023
Fascinating. Muhling describes his journey around the Black Sea. It takes place after Russia invaded and annexed Crimea and while fighting was going on in the Donbas and before Russia invaded the rest of Ukraine. An amazing story of the sea, the human history and the history of some of the critters. Some of the settlements have history beyond recording, some are only a few decades old. Groups have been moved around the Sea and some have been moved away and returned.
Muhling speaks a number of languages and travels alone. He makes acquaintances along the way who share their stories.
This is a book to return to in a couple of years.
Muhling speaks a number of languages and travels alone. He makes acquaintances along the way who share their stories.
This is a book to return to in a couple of years.
December 6, 2021
Mir haben die anderen beiden Bücher (Mein russisches Abenteuer und Schwarze Erde) von Jens Mühling mehr gefallen.
Dieses hier ist ohne Zweifel sehr informativ, für mich aber zu vollgestopft mit historischen Fakten und Begebenheiten, die aufgrund der zahlreichen hier vertretenen ethnischen Gruppen nur selten einen Zusammenhang haben.
Mir fiel es deswegen schwer, all diese Informationen aufzunehmen und ich hätte mir eine größere Konzentration auf menschliche Schicksale gewünscht (wie es in meiner Erinnerung in den anderen beiden Büchern der Fall war).
Dieses hier ist ohne Zweifel sehr informativ, für mich aber zu vollgestopft mit historischen Fakten und Begebenheiten, die aufgrund der zahlreichen hier vertretenen ethnischen Gruppen nur selten einen Zusammenhang haben.
Mir fiel es deswegen schwer, all diese Informationen aufzunehmen und ich hätte mir eine größere Konzentration auf menschliche Schicksale gewünscht (wie es in meiner Erinnerung in den anderen beiden Büchern der Fall war).
January 23, 2023
A great travel book on a fascinating part of the world. In the last year, we have seen the war in Ukraine, craziness in Turkey, and I personally travelled to Georgia. While I have read (and reviewed here) some histories of Ukraine, this gave me a much better overall view of the region. So fascinating.
Strong recommend.
Strong recommend.
May 28, 2024
Troubled Water is a chatty but insightful travelogue of the author's journey around the Black Sea. He describes the complexity of the history of this area, and the broad variety of ethnic groups that once and still reside in the area. Really quite interesting.
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October 5, 2022Outstanding Overall: Concept, Writing, Timely, Fun, Facts. One of the Best.
November 23, 2022
A thoroughly enjoyable circumnavigation of the Black Sea.
May 4, 2023
Among the top 10 travel logs I’ve read in my life. Highly recommended..
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews