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A review by largeicedtea
Into Siberia: George Kennan's Epic Journey Through the Brutal, Frozen Heart of Russia by Gregory Wallance
adventurous
dark
informative
sad
medium-paced
5.0
As someone who gravitates toward nonfiction books about adventure, exploration, geography, history, and social justice, "Into Siberia" manages to cover all of these subjects and more. It also functions as a riveting memoir of a man whose personal and political beliefs are inverted over the course of many brutal months witnessing the Siberian prison system of the late 19th century.
The first chapters begin a bit slow as we are fed the necessary exposition. But once the story got going, it was a hard book to put down. Our subject Kennan begins a tortured expedition across Russia with artist colleague George Frost to document Russia's Siberian penal system. Before this trip, Kennan downplayed the exile of Russian prisoners to Siberia but what he saw on his journeys shook him to the core. Witnessing such torment and deprivation, along with a stressful, months-long overland journey across thousands of miles, brought both Kennan and Frost to a physical and emotional breaking point.
A fascinating and thought-provoking book. If you enjoyed "The Lost City of Z" or "In the Heart of the Sea," "Into Siberia" is the book for you.
The first chapters begin a bit slow as we are fed the necessary exposition. But once the story got going, it was a hard book to put down. Our subject Kennan begins a tortured expedition across Russia with artist colleague George Frost to document Russia's Siberian penal system. Before this trip, Kennan downplayed the exile of Russian prisoners to Siberia but what he saw on his journeys shook him to the core. Witnessing such torment and deprivation, along with a stressful, months-long overland journey across thousands of miles, brought both Kennan and Frost to a physical and emotional breaking point.
A fascinating and thought-provoking book. If you enjoyed "The Lost City of Z" or "In the Heart of the Sea," "Into Siberia" is the book for you.