Black Earth: A journey through Russia after the fall - Hardcover

Meier, Andrew

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0007113234 ISBN 13: 9780007113231

Publisher: HarperCollins, 2004

Synopsis

Harper Collins. London 2004. Hardback. pp:511

About this title

Review:

‘Authoritative, lively... Black Earth is a splendid investigation into the collapse of a brave ideology and the millions of Russians who have been displaced by it.’ Ian Thomson, Sunday Times

‘Impressive... Meier has a genuine affection for the coutnry and its people, which helps him to see beyond the one-dimensional image one gets from foreign newspaper reports.’ Robin Buss, Independent on Sunday

‘The narrative course of Andrew Meier’s superb book takes the reader form the fleshpots of modern Moscow to the wastes of Siberia via the poverty stricken environmental disasters zone along the coast of the sea of Okhotsk and St Petersburg... Meier is an acute observer.’ Jason Burke, Observer

‘[Meier’s] knowledge of the country and his abiding love for its people stands out on every page of this book, making his journey through Russia after the fall an informed and scrupulously researched one.’ The Economist

‘Black Earth is the best investigation of post-Soviet Russia since David Remnick’s Resurrection. Andrew Meier is a truly penetrating eyewitness.’ Robert Conquest

‘If President Bush were to read only the chapters on Chechnya in Meier’s Black Earth, he would gain a priceless education about Putin’s Russia.’ Zbigniew Brzezinski

‘That Black Earth is an extraordinary work is, for anyone who has known Russia, beyond question.’ George Kennan

'An engrossing, beautifully written book about a country where "the death of an ideology has displaced millions"... Heartbreaking.' Publisher's Weekly

Synopsis:

Russia is a world in a dark limbo. The body politic is diseased, the state in collapse. Yet for all the signs of encroaching doom, Russians do not fear the future. They fear the past. Russians have long known theirs is not a land that develops and progresses. It careens, heaves and all too often sinks. Once again, Russia stands at a crossroads getting by on little but faith, vodka and a blithe indifference to the moral and financial bankruptcy looming from all sides. This text explains a state in collapse. It explains how millions of Russians have been displaced by the death of an ideology. It seeks to explain how the Russian government can increase defence spending by 50 per cent whilst the poverty line cuts through a third of its households, and the people face epidemics of AIDS, TB, alcoholism and suicide. Russia's story is told through the voices of Russians who live at the five corners of the nation. It is a portrait of Russia at a time when the old regime has given way, but the new has yet to take hold.

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0007113234
• ISBN 13: 9780007113231
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 528