Travels through Russia

 

PB. Mint condition. 352pp. $25 including postage anywhere in Australia.

The Road of Bones is the story of Russia's greatest road. For over 200 years, the route of the Vladimirka Road has been at the centre of the nation's history, having witnessed everything from the first human footsteps to the rise of Putin and his oil-rich oligarchy. Tsars, wars, famine and wealth: all have crossed and travelled this road, but no-one has ever told its story.

In pursuit of the sights, sounds and voices both past and present, Jeremy Poolman travels the Vladimirka. Both epic and intimate, The Road of Bones is a record of his travels - but much more. It looks into the hearts and reveals the histories of those whose lives have been changed by what is known by many as simply The Greatest of Roads.

This is a book about life and about death and about the strength of will it takes to celebrate the former while living in the shadow of the latter. Anecdotal and epic, The Road of Bones follows the author's journey along this road, into the past and back again. The book takes as its compass both the voices of history and those of today and draws a map of the cities and steppes of the Russian people's battered but ultimately indefatigable spirit.

The Chechen war and Putin's slaughterhouse

 Rare book. Very good condition. PB. 576pp. Amazon selling this edition for $127. plus postage. Our special price is $40 including postage anywhere in Australia.

Written in passionate prose, this is the story of the one million Chechens who, following the collapse of the Soviet Union, found themselves cast as the enemy of the new Russian state. Compelled to assert their freedom and individualism, they faced the huge Russian army in a one-sided war which destroyed their land, their homes, and their families. This updated account also covers the role of Vladimir Putin in the continuing struggle.

Reporting on Putin's other genocide

 

RARE BOOK. Very good condition. $20 including postage anywhere in Australia

In Chechnya: A Small Victorious War Carlotta Gall and Thomas de Waal tell the full story of how the Kremlin came to embark on such an ill-judged military adventure and how the Chechen fighters fought back. Switching between Chechnya and Moscow, the authors cover the whole sweep of the war from the horrendous destruction of the Russian invasion to the Chechens’ dramatic retaliation to force the Russian army out.

The book traces the roots of the conflict: the Chechens’ history of resistance to the Russian empire, the rogue state set up by the eccentric general-turned-president Jokhar Dudayev as the Soviet Union fell apart, and the Kremlin court politics that precipitated the decision to invade Chechnya.

With its exclusive material and eye-witness reporting, Chechnya: A Small Victorious War is the definitive account of the most tragic and extraordinary story to emerge from the end of the Soviet Union. It is also the story of the flamboyant, anarchic and unyielding Chechens and their struggle for survival.

Travels in Russia's dark heart

 

Mint condition. PB. 352pp. $25 including postage anywhere in Australia.

The Road of Bonesis the story of Russia's greatest road. For over 200 years, the route of the Vladimirka Road has been at the centre of the nation's history, having witnessed everything from the first human footsteps to the rise of Putin and his oil-rich oligarchy. Tsars, wars, famine and wealth: all have crossed and travelled this road, but no-one has ever told its story.

In pursuit of the sights, sounds and voices both past and present, Jeremy Poolman travels the Vladimirka. Both epic and intimate, The Road of Bones is a record of his travels - but much more. It looks into the hearts and reveals the histories of those whose lives have been changed by what is known by many as simply The Greatest of Roads.

This is a book about life and about death and about the strength of will it takes to celebrate the former while living in the shadow of the latter.

Anecdotal and epic, The Road of Bones follows the author's journey along this road, into the past and back again. The book takes as its compass both the voices of history and those of today and draws a map of the cities and steppes of the Russian people's battered but ultimately indefatigable spirit.

About the author

Jeremy Poolman is a British novelist, biographer and artist. His first novel, Interesting Facts about the State of Arizona, won the 1997 Commonwealth Writers' Prize, best first book, UK.

He studied at University College School, and Oxford Brookes University.^[1] His work has appeared in The Guardian.^[2] He lives in Cornwall.^[3]

Travels through Japan, China and Russia

 

Excellent condition. PB. 384pp. $18 including postage anywhere in Australia.

'I am in exactly the right place, thinking, doing and feeling exactly the right things...'

This was the affirmation that Brad Newsham repeated daily as he cycled alone across the Japanese Alps to Mount Fuji, free to wander wherever he chose. But back home in San Francisco, life hadn't been so rosy: his wife had met someone else and wanted a divorce. He tried everything to change her mind, eventually leaving his job and buying a one-way ticket to Asia in the hope that she would miss him. It worked...and then HE met someone else on a bus in Hong Kong.

One of the first wave of Western backpackers to blaze a trail through China and Russia, Brad Newsham travelled from the neon-lit streets of Tokyo to the epic prairies of Mongolia in a journey that took him across Asia by bicycle, boat, bus and the Trans-Siberian railway. With its rich and fascinating cast of characters, All The Right Places is classic travel writing at its very best.