Product Description

Winston Churchill famously described Russia as 'a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma'. Even today it remains a country little understood by the West. But as a resurgent world power, with an energy-rich economy, we ignore Russia at our peril. In this timely and revealing portrait, distinguished author and broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby crosses eight time zones and covers 10,000 miles, from Murmansk in the Arctic Circle to the Asian city of Vladivostok, in an attempt to get beneath the skin of modern Russia. Travelling by road, rail and boat, his epic journey takes him from the neo-classical splendour of St Petersburg to remote and inaccessible parts of Siberia. At the heart of this magisterial account are Jonathan's encounters with a diverse range of ordinary Russians - from urban intellectuals and the new class of entrepreneurs, to impoverished peasants and Russia's ethnic minorities struggling to cling to their distinctive identities.Jonathan was the only British television journalist to interview President Gorbachev during the Cold War, and, returning to Russia for the first time since those days, he discovers a land transformed. But despite economic progress, he finds aspects of Russian society deeply troubling, and takes an unflinchingly critical look at the way Russia has been run during the Putin years. For Jonathan, crossing the immense Russian landmass became as much an interior journey as an exterior one, and the book contains painfully honest passages as he struggles to meet the challenges of an arduous film trip against the backdrop of great turbulence in his personal life. Filled with a dazzling array of historical and literary references, "Russia - A Journey to the Heart of a Land and Its People" is a riveting and illuminating account of modern Russia.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #15620 in Books
• Published on: 2008-05-01
• Binding: Hardcover
• 576 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Russia is a massive book: sprawling, ambitious and richly detailed. Jonathan Dimbleby's subtitle is A Journey to the Heart of a Land and its People, and fears that he might have bitten off more than he can chew (both in this book and its accompanying TV series) are quickly allayed. What is most impressive about the book is its canny synthesis of a variety of genres: travelogue, history, social document: Russia is all of these and more, with the personal voice of the narrative by Dimbleby particularly illuminating, as he struggles to come to terms with the contradictions in this fascinating and infuriating country. It is, as the author says, a country that straddles half the globe, and contains a daunting amount of cultural and religious diversity. All of this is examined here, but any sage judgements are never delivered in sober-sided fashion -- we're always caught up in the drama of Dimbleby's journeys.

The author crossed eight time zones and covered 10,000 miles, from Murmansk in the Arctic Circle to the Asian city of Vladivostok. He travels by every available method: rail, road and sea, and manages to experience all the splendours and the miseries of this amazing country. But although the contours of the locales are conjured up with maximum vividness, there are also fascinating portraits of all the Russians that Dimbleby encounters, from intellectuals and struggling peasants to the new breed of fantastically successful entrepreneurs (many of whom, of course, are now making their home in London). The colour illustrations are well chosen, but it's the text that succeeds in taking the reader on this epic journey -- a journey that will transform completely most people's apprehension of the country. --Barry Forshaw.

Daily Express, 16th May 2008
'Dimbley's book is a splendid achievement...He constitutes the essence of a good traveller - companionable, thoughtful, sceptical and sometimes wide-eyed with wonder.'

The Guardian, 28th June 08
fulfils all the requirements of "the book of his journey...After this glimpse of [Dimbleby's] soul, you'll never listen to him hosting 'Any Questions' in the same way again.'

Customer Reviews

A rare look beyond the stereotypes
I was pleased to see the BBC would be running a documentary and publishing this book looking at modern Russia from a perspective other than politics and war. This huge and diverse nation is an endlessly fascinating subject, which gets less than its fair share of coverage in the UK.

The book follows Jonathan's journey through a fairly representative series of geographical destinations across Russia, helping, I hope, to show people that the country is not just cold and bleak as many still seem to think!

My wife is from Novorossysk on the Black Sea coast which is just a couple of hundred miles from Turkey and where the climate is Mediterranean, not arctic, so it was good to see some of these regions covered, as well as the big cities of Moscow and St Petersburg.

Through his meetings with a variety of interesting people we cut through the prevailing stereotypes to show a warm and friendly people who are proud of their nation yet often not afraid to criticise it (although it's another thing to actually do anything about it for most people). However, their perspective on life, politics and their general philosophies often appear quite different to ours - well thought out but often much more fatalistic. There seems to be a realist expedience to much of what you hear - making the best of things as they are rather than imagining things can be made perfect. Perhaps the utopianism of the Communist years and its terrible failure has brought them to this way of thinking.

Jonathan's thoughts and questions can be a bit cringeworthy at times, but the subject matter and the interesting people he meets make this book worth a read for those who are new to this enormous subject, although it will fall well short for serious Russophiles.

Odd choice of presenter/writer
Jonathan Dimbleby is not a name you associate with travel writing. Having read this book all the way through, and watched all episodes of the series, it's not likely to become a name with such an association.

By his own admission, Dimbleby does not like travelling, does not like having to be away from home, and has a phobia about flying. He also speaks virtually no Russian and cannot read Cyrillic (yet was somehow able to function as a Moscow reporter during the Soviet Union days).

One thing comes across very clearly within the first few pages of this book (and remains evident throughout). Dimbleby's mindset vis-a-vis Russia is stuck in the Soviet era of the 1970s. He makes constant references to the Soviet era throughout the book, and when that doesn't provide him with sufficient material, resorts to harping back even further to the excesses of the Tsars. At almost every point, he quizzed people about their political views and looked deeply into Russia's social problems, rather than focussing on the kinds of everyday matters that a tourist would want to know about. Yet, despite his repeated references to the way ordinary people in Russia live, his main points of contact throughout the book were people of high status (company owners, local community leaders, Tolstoy's descendents, and so on). So much for seeking the hearts and minds of the people.

This book is presents a very negative impression of the world's largest country. (Yet, oddly, Dimbleby doesn't mention the negative impressions that most travellers there would find: the almost complete absence of the concept of "customer service", and bureaucrats who are unhelpful to the point of being downright obstructive. I guess not being able to speak the language does have its advantages - you don't need to face these real-world annoyances.)

This is not so much a journey to the hearts and minds of the Russian people, as a journey to one man's mid-20th-century political prejudices. The only positive thing I can say about it, is that it offers quite a lot of interesting historical background to Russia.

An inspiring journey through Russia
After a shaky start with this one I really did get into the journey across Russia as experienced by the well know J Dimbleby. A lot of current and topical information regarding the political situation as well as historical detail.

Some quite scary instances such as the perilous sea crossing with a crazy captain and drunken 1st mate. I love this sort of travelogue which makes me want to copy that same journey step by step going to all the interesting places that he described.

I would recommend this now that it has come out in paperback at a more reasonable price.