Customer Reviews

East of the Sun: The Epic Conquest & Tragic History of Siberia

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

There are a lot of parallels between the conquest of Siberia by Russia and the taming of the American West. For starters, there is the way each country treated the indigenous population as it conquered them. Compared to your avearge Cossack, George Armstrong Custer was a weeping humanitarian. This book follows the epic history of Siberia from the sixteenth century through the Bolshevik revolution that turned the countryside into a massive prison colony. Bobrick is an excellent storyteller and his history is as entertaining as it is informative.

A pity that this book is out of print. A very intersting survey of the conquest of Siberia. Chilly and chilling even in its writing. No real glorious epic here although lots of gumption and bravery tales of the daring folks that settled Siberia. Just a tale of woe, but a woe that built a nation. Also a few questions about the mentality of a people still little known who forged itself in such hardship and near animalistic conditions. A must read to understand the influence of Siberia in today's Russia. One objection, many editing errors that cost it a star.

Bobrick does an excellent job of tracking the long-suffering of Siberia and its peoples through many centuries. He also brings to life in vivid detail the adventures of some of the early explorers who journeyed with good or bad motives through that vast region. Some of the expeditions ended in the death for most if not all of those in the party, while other expeditions met with success through miraculous circumstances under the worst conditions.

The plight of the indigenous throughout it all makes the heart
want to cry out in protest. It certainly is a tragic history.

I bought this book for a couple of bucks in a used bookstore and read it on a plane. Bobrick's writing is clear and easy to read. He provides what I see as a standard history of the Russian conquest, and Soviet re-conquest, of Siberia. There are no footnotes or even a bibliography, so I can't figure out why he claims some things that I found questionable. I don't think he 'got it wrong', but it seems like the book is mostl cribbed from other English-language works and maybe a couple of the standard Russian-language histories.

So, it's good for light non-fiction, but not for students or anyone serious about their history reading.

I found this book in the bargain section for $5 and now see it is out of print. What a shame. The book covers the hisotry of Siberia from pre-history to modern times. Perhaps the most interesting chapters cover the exploration of Siberia by Bering in the late 18th C. - this epic conquest pales the Lewis and Clark expedition in scope and time and is writen with such vivid description it would make a wonderfull movie. For these few chapters alone this book is worth seeking out. Overall a very intersting book covering a very broad topic

My longer review seems to have vanished into cyberspace...

Anyway, EotS is a decent primer for Siberian history. It's very limited in perspective, however, which my not be overly surprising since I suspect there are few primary sources of information by or about the indigenous peoples of Siberia. I was disappointed that there was so little (almost nothing, actually) about the native Siberians. I was especially looking forward to reading about Russian America but, again, it was glossed over. At least it's well-written; things move along nicely and it's very readable.

This may be a decent introduction to Russian expansion into Siberia but it's probably not worth your while if you already have any familiarity with the subject.

Not really recommended.