The Amur River: Between Russia and China
- ISBN-10
- 0063099705
- ISBN-13
- 9780063099708
- Category
- Travel
- Pages
- 301
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2021-09-21
- Publisher
- HarperCollins
- Author
- Colin Thubron
Description
"A gripping read with fascinating political insight." (Sunday Times, London) "Elegant, elegiac and poignant...Thubron is an intrepid traveler, a shrewd observer and a lyrical guide... to the river, much of it along the border between these two powers at a time of rapid and tense reconfiguration of global geopolitics." (Washington Post) The most admired travel writer of our time—author of Shadow of the Silk Road and To a Mountain in Tibet—recounts an eye-opening, often perilous journey along a little known Far East Asian river that for over a thousand miles forms the highly contested border between Russia and China. The Amur River is almost unknown. Yet it is the tenth longest river in the world, rising in the Mongolian mountains and flowing through Siberia to the Pacific. For 1,100 miles it forms the tense border between Russia and China. Simmering with the memory of land-grabs and unequal treaties, this is the most densely fortified frontier on earth. In his eightieth year, Colin Thubron takes a dramatic journey from the Amur’s secret source to its giant mouth, covering almost 3,000 miles. Harassed by injury and by arrest from the local police, he makes his way along both the Russian and Chinese shores, starting out by Mongolian horse, then hitchhiking, sailing on poacher’s sloops or travelling the Trans-Siberian Express. Having revived his Russian and Mandarin, he talks to everyone he meets, from Chinese traders to Russian fishermen, from monks to indigenous peoples. By the time he reaches the river’s desolate end, where Russia’s nineteenth-century imperial dream petered out, a whole, pivotal world has come alive. The Amur River is a shining masterpiece by the acknowledged laureate of travel writing, an urgent lesson in history and the culmination of an astonishing career.
Get the book
Similar books
-
Knoxville, Tennessee: A Mountain City in the New South
By William Bruce WheelerIn the early 1970s the Boeing Corporation had sent planners to the region for the purpose of building a new city , to be named Timberlake , near the Tellico ...
-
Britannia in Brief: The Scoop on All Things British
By Leslie Banker, William MullinsRobbie Williams Like Justin Timberlake, Robbie Williams got his start in a boy band then parlayed that success into something much bigger.
-
New England, 1999
By Wayne Curtis, Herbert B. Livesey, Marie MorrisFrost lived in a cabin on a farm across the road for 23 summers . ... but it's also open to the public at rates of about half what you'd pay at Killington .
-
Frommer's New England 2003
By Wayne Curtis, Marie Morris, Laura M. ReckfordYou'll never fall into the tourist traps when you travel with Frommer's. It's like having a friend show you around, taking you to the places locals like best. Our expert...
-
Frommer's? New England 2002
By Wayne Curtis, Marie Morris, Laura M. Reckford"Using the expertise of knowledgeable travel writers and editors, Frommer's New England is stuffed like a turkey, with slivers of information spilling out as soon as you open the cover.Even...
-
The Rough Guide to Peru
By Sara Humphreys, Steph Dyson, Todd ObolskyS/620 01 446 9414, HI Hostel Lima Casimiro Ulloa 328 hihostels.com; map. A great deal, this is the top-rated HI hostel in the capital.
-
Chicago - Frommer's Travel Guides
By Todd A. SavageThe most authoritative, easy-to-use guide a traveller can buy
-
French By Heart: An American Family's Adventures in La Belle France
By Rebecca S. RamseyIn a year or so, y'a.ll will move back home andTodd'll buy you some big house in Crawford Creek and you're ... But what is the deal with hotel rooms here?
-
Sons of Thunder
By James TimberlakeBook One: Sons of Thunder is the first of two books based on one summers 2000 mile trek across southern Europe.
-
Food Artisans of Alberta: Your Trail Guide to the Best Locally Crafted Fare
By Karen Anderson, Matilde Sanchez-TurriOwners J.P. Fortin and Danielle Black Fortin have a base camp and café in Capstone at Riverlands in Red Deer. Check them out at pursuitadventures.ca.