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Sovietistan

A Journey Through Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan

Erika Fatland Kari Dickson

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English
Quercus
29 September 2020
"""A mesmerising trip across Central Asia . . . A fascinating travelogue"" Financial Times

SHORTLISTED FOR EDWARD STANFORD/LONELY PLANET DEBUT TRAVEL WRITER OF THE YEAR 2020

An unforgettable journey through the former Soviet Republics, by a prizewinning author of international reportage

Erika Fatland takes the reader on a journey that is unknown to even the most seasoned globetrotter. The five former Soviet Republics' Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan all became independent when the Soviet Union fell apart in 1991. How have these countries developed since then?

In the Kyrgyzstani villages Erika Fatland meets victims of the widely known tradition of bride snatching; she visits the huge and desolate Polygon in Kazakhstan where the Soviet Union tested explosions of nuclear bombs; she meets Chinese shrimp gatherers on the banks of the dried out Aral Sea and she witnesses the fall of a dictator. She travels incognito through Turkmenistan, a country that is closed to journalists. She meets exhausted human rights activists in Kazakhstan, survivors from the massacre in Osh in 2010, German Menonites that found paradise on the Kyrgyzstani plains 200 years ago. During her travels, she observes how ancient customs clash with gas production and she witnesses the underlying conflicts between ethnic Russians and the majority in a country that is slowly building its future in Nationalist colours.

In these countries, that used to be the furthest border of the Soviet Union, life follows another pace of time. Amidst the treasures of Samarkand and the bleakness of Soviet architecture, Erika Fatland moves with her openness towards the people and the landscapes around her. A rare and unforgettable travelogue.

Translated from the Norwegian by Kari Dickson"

By:  
Translated by:  
Imprint:   Quercus
Country of Publication:   United Kingdom
Dimensions:   Height: 196mm,  Width: 128mm,  Spine: 36mm
Weight:   340g
ISBN:   9780857057747
ISBN 10:   085705774X
Pages:   480
Publication Date:  
Audience:   General/trade ,  ELT Advanced
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active

Erika Fatland was born in 1983 and studied Social Anthropology at the University of Oslo. Her 2011 book, The Village of Angels, was an in situ report on the Beslan terror attacks of 2004 and she is also the author of The Year Without Summer, describing the harrowing year that followed the massacre on Utoya in 2011. She speaks eight languages and lives in Oslo with her husband.

Reviews for Sovietistan: A Journey Through Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan

[A] mesmerising trip across central Asia . . . All credit to Erika Fatland, who may have titled her central Asian travelogue Sovietistan, but who treats each with care and attention. Part diary, part sociopolitical analysis . . . A fascinating travelogue - Financial Times Engaging . . . The reader learns a lot about all kinds of subjects. - Spectator With her acute journalistic eye, clarity of style and not least a solid background in social anthropology, Erika Fatland has given us a number of astute books on complicated subjects. When this ability is combined with courage and a sense of adventure, the result is impressive - Aftenposten Even if you're not currently planning a trip to Central Asia, this book will change your mind - Klassekampen Fatland really knows her subject and writes with conviction. After her thoughtful writing on Beslan and the massacre on Utoya, there was every reason to have huge expectations. They have been more than fulfilled. - Dagbladet Now to be numbered among the best travel writers, the brilliant and intrepid Norwegian Erika Fatland has observed deserts, villages, metropolises and mountains to bring back a jewel of story of adventure, intermingled histories, geography, geology, culture and politics. - Figaro


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