false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170533405m/59659.jpg 59659 25 Ryszard Kapuscinski's last book, The Soccer War -a revelation of the contemporary experience of war -- prompted John le Carre to call the author "the conjurer extraordinary of modern reportage." Now, in Imperium, Kapuscinski gives us a work of equal emotional force and evocative power: a personal, brilliantly detailed exploration of the almost unfathomably complex Soviet empire in our time.<br><br>He begins with his own childhood memories of the postwar Soviet occupation of Pinsk, in what was then Poland's eastern frontier ("something dreadful and incomprehensible...in this world that I enter at seven years of age"), and takes us up to 1967, when, as a journalist just starting out, he traveled across a snow-covered and desolate Siberia, and through the Soviet Union's seven southern and Central Asian republics, territories whose individual histories, cultures, and religions he found thriving even within the "stiff, rigorous corset of Soviet power."<br><br>Between 1989 and 1991, Kapuscinski made a series of extended journeys through the disintegrating Soviet empire, and his account of these forms the heart of the book. Bypassing official institutions and itineraries, he traversed the Soviet territory alone, from the border of Poland to the site of the most infamous gulags in far-eastern Siberia (where "nature pals it up with the executioner"), from above the Arctic Circle to the edge of Afghanistan, visiting dozens of cities and towns and outposts, traveling more than 40,000 miles, venturing into the individual lives of men, women, and children in order to Understand the collapsing but still various larger life of the empire.<br><br>Bringing the book to a close is a collection of notes which, Kapuscinski writes, "arose in the margins of my journeys" -- reflections on the state of the ex-USSR and on his experience of having watched its fate unfold "on the screen of a television set...as well as on the screen of the country's ordinary, daily reality, which surrounded me during my travels." It is this "schizophrenic perception in two different dimensions" that enabled Kapuscinski to discover and illuminate the most telling features of a society in dire turmoil.<br><br>Imperium is a remarkable work from one of the most original and sharply perceptive interpreters of our world -- galvanizing narrative deeply informed by Kapuscinski's limitless curiosity and his passion for truth, and suffused with his vivid sense of the overwhelming importance of history as it is lived, and of our constantly shifting places within it. 2358709 1993 Imperium total:244|5:121|4:94|3:25|2:4|1:0| 244 1064 405 37 4 1 false false Tue Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2005 Wed Jun 20 14:14:59 -0700 2007 Wed Jun 20 18:07:25 -0700 2007
Kapuscinski was (he died early this year) a Polish Journalist extraordinaire who spent his life (he nearly died numerous times in the field...more...]]> 4 1 false false Sat Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Fri Nov 23 15:11:08 -0800 2007 Sun Dec 16 20:46:47 -0800 2007
As he is travelling (a lot of Central Asia and Siberia) he delves into history, politics, mythology... seamlessly leaping from firs...more...]]> 4 1 false false Mon May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2006 Sat May 19 18:09:05 -0700 2007 Sat May 19 18:09:05 -0700 2007
He died in the last year and his obituary was amazing. He travelled all over the world as a foreign correspondent during the period of Soviet domination of Poland. He wrote really insightful books based on his travels (particularly in ...more...]]> 4 1 false false Wed Jul 04 09:33:34 -0700 2007 Thu Jul 05 20:38:49 -0700 2007 4 1 true false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Tue Dec 11 21:55:56 -0800 2007 Tue Dec 11 21:56:26 -0800 2007 5 0 false false Sun Jan 25 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 24 23:24:43 -0800 2009 Sun Jan 25 19:35:25 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Tue Jan 06 09:05:21 -0800 2009 Tue Jan 06 09:10:08 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Fri Jul 20 09:09:59 -0700 2007 Thu Feb 26 21:50:15 -0800 2009 First meeetings (1939 - 1967). Kapuściński wrote there about Soviet occcupation of his hometown Pinsk in 1939. During his travel across Russia Kapuści...more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun Jan 13 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sat Jan 24 15:44:14 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 24 15:49:27 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Mon Jan 12 17:26:48 -0800 2009 Mon Jan 12 17:30:44 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Fri Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Jul 31 21:35:04 -0700 2008 Fri Aug 22 00:25:08 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Mar 26 15:08:31 -0700 2009 Thu Mar 26 15:12:07 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Sat Jun 28 16:46:35 -0700 2008 Sat Jun 28 16:51:58 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Tue May 05 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Mar 13 08:03:24 -0700 2009 Tue May 05 07:32:57 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Aug 18 14:19:56 -0700 2008 Mon Aug 18 14:20:04 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1999 Tue Sep 08 06:57:23 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 08 07:03:53 -0700 2009 more...]]> 0 0 false false Mon May 11 09:25:30 -0700 2009 Mon May 11 09:28:04 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Thu Mar 12 20:43:08 -0700 2009 Thu Mar 12 20:43:35 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Mon Jul 21 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Jul 27 14:26:14 -0700 2008 Sun Jul 27 14:31:20 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Jan 21 06:16:21 -0800 2009 Wed Jan 21 06:17:06 -0800 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=59659