Portland Public Library

Sovietistan, travels in Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan, Erika Fatland ; translated by Kari Dickson

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 473-477)

contains biographical information

mapsillustrationsplates

no index present

non fiction

Sovietistan

bibliography

1104402468

Erika Fatland ; translated by Kari Dickson

travels in Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan

"An unforgettable journey through Central Asia, one of the most mysterious and history-laden regions of the world. Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan became free of the Soviet Union in 1991. But though they are new to modern statehood, this is a region rich in ancient history, culture, and landscapes unlike anywhere else in the world. Traveling alone, Erika Fatland is a true adventurer in every sense. In Sovietistan, she takes the reader on a compassionate and insightful journey to explore how their Soviet heritage has influenced these countries, with governments experimenting with both democracy and dictatorships. In Kyrgyzstani villages, she meets victims of the tradition of bride snatching; she visits the huge and desolate Polygon in Kazakhstan where the Soviet Union tested explosions of nuclear bombs; she meets shrimp gatherers on the banks of the dried out Aral Sea; 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, and German Mennonites that found paradise on the Kyrgyzstani plains 200 years ago. We learn how ancient customs clash with gas production and witness the underlying conflicts between ethnic Russians and the majority in a country that is slowly building its future in nationalist colors. Once the frontier of the Soviet Union, life follows another pace of time. Amidst the treasures of Samarkand and the brutalist Soviet architecture, Sovietistan is a rare and unforgettable adventure."--, (Source of summary not specified)

Turkmenistan: Map of Turkmenistan ; The underground people ; The marble city ; Dictatorism ; Desert flower ; The dictator's fall ; The final expedition ; The era of supreme happiness ; Borderland -- Kazakhstan: Map of Kazakhstan ; An oasis of sushi and A.T.M.s ; On the tracks ; The sea that vanished ; The empire ; Kazakh polo ; Stalin's pawns ; The capital city ; The great experiment ; A weak heart ; Father of apples ; The tired activist ; A hard blow -- Tajikistan: Map of Tajikistan ; Mercedes Benz capital ; Out of time ; The sad serving lady ; The faces of war ; The great game ; Map of Russian expansion in the nineteeth century ; The land at the foot of the sun ; Let's fight corruption together! -- Kyrgyzstan: Map of Krygystan ; Don't cry, you are my wife now ; The eagle men ; The last Germans in rot-front ; Greek nuts ; Five days in June ; Silence in the waiting room ; Do you have any porn with you, miss? ; Uzbekistan: Map of Uzbekistan ; The art of keeping up appearances ; Such stuff as dreams are made of ; The museum in the desert ; The god of cotton ; In search of lost time ; Pearls of the silk road ; The end station -- Afterword: The death of a dictator