Customer Reviews

Tent Life in Siberia

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i picked this book up from a homeless bookseller in manhattan for a dollar, figuring it might be worth a try. and it was - i read the whole thing!

it's major pluses: it's written in a surprisingly modern style. i've read other travelogues of the time period, like melville's omoo and typee and others, and this one was FAR better. perhaps it's that the author is not pompous or trying too hard to be "literary." he tries a little bit, but mostly he just sticks to the facts and tells the story. and the story on its own is interesting enough - travelling all around eastern siberia with wandering natives on dogsleds and reindeer sleds, living in yurts and eating funky foods, starving at times, camping under snowdrifts at fifty below zero, and mostly just observing and interacting with native peoples who (i have a strange feelings) may not even exist any more. and all this set in the backdrop of such an interesting time period in our history - just after the U.S. Civil War.

other point of food for thought: the guy did his travels at AGE TWENTY!!!, and wrote and published the entire book by age 25! this strikes me as quite odd, because his whole style is...so mature...and intellectual. you'd think you're reading a book by a forty year old (at least). and to this that seven years before he travelled to siberia...he was just thirteen.

anyway, all in all a good and interesting book, good in a way for light historical reading, but nothing to shock your boots off...

Telegraph operator George Kennan signs on to build a telegraph line across Siberia in late 1800s. Very good American example of understated adventure writing, a genre probably perfected by the British.

I stumbled across this book in the Santa Cruz Public Library in 1980 and it has always stuck with me.
Highly recommended, often quite funny.
Indeed this George Kennan is the great uncle of the cold-war diplomat of the same name (I believe), who passed away on this day at the age of 101.

I couldn't put this book down. On a par with Shackleton's story. Well written, fascinating account of a two year Siberian expedition in the mid 1800s.

If you've ever tented in Russia especialy Kamchatka this is a book to cure the inevitable homesickness for another Russian adventure. A century or more later, Mothers Russia and Nature still conspire to challenge and reward the uninitiated guest. The emotional initiation to Russian culture, the people and the landscape leaves one longing for return or appreciating respite and escape.

If you have an escapist imagination an wish to hear the wind in the birches and tread of the bear its a great read.

The Honorable George F. Kennan, who served as the American Ambassador to Russia in 1951, remains the ONLY example of an American foreign diplomat who was asked to leave their country of posting. This, because he likened the current politcal climate in Russia to that of pre-WW II Nazi Germany. Thus by extension, comparing Stalin to Hitler. He was outspoken about reports of mass collectivization taking place, the gulags from which people never returned, and the unreported deaths of opponents to Stalin. Authorities in the United States had good reason to fear for the life of Ambassador Kennan: had he remained in Russia he quite possibly would have been assassinated by the NKVD, who kept him under close surveillance during his brief posting. Ambassador Keenan is one of the truly great and honorable people of the past 100 years, but little is known about his life. When a graduate class in History at Yale University was quizzed about Ambassador Kennan, very few students new anything at all about him. (Hopefully that will change with the recent publication of the magisterial biography, GEORGE F. KENNAN: AN AMERICAN LIFE, published by Penguin Press.

Just when did Ambassador Kennan become such an admirer of Russia and her people? When he was only twenty years old and hired by the Russian American Telegraph Company to travel across Siberia and chart the route of a proposed telegraph line stretching from Kamchatka in southern Siberia, all the way to the Bering Strait. TENT LIFE IN SIBERIA is the intimate, funny, touching, warm, passionate and intelligent journal of this extraordinary journey. From his his account of life on the sailing brig crossing the Pacific Ocean (where he and his cabin mates were seasick most of the time), to perilous ascents near active volcanoes, to crossing the vast tundra in -55 degree weather, Kennan is a sharp, witty and unbiased observer of the Russian people and their customs. He had great admiration for most of the people whom he encounters. There are few exceptions (one being "the permanent Chukchi". These people drink a vast amount of vodka and other spirits, live only in smoke-filled yurts and are entirely unwelcoming, unfriendly and the polar opposite in temperament to the "wandering Chukchi".

Kennan writes in a spirited, lively and indefatigable tone. To gain an idea of the magnitude of their journeys: imagine going from New York to Los Angeles by horse, by foot, by sailing boat, and by dog sled, then travel back to New York in this manner. Now, REPEAT THE JOURNEY and do so with very limited food rations, not speaking the native language, battling sub-zero temperatures. Imagine day after day spent in absolute darkness, or days when the sun never sets except for a few moments. And there are bears and coyote who would gladly have you for dinner, to say nothing of the mosquitoes who invade towns to the extent where houses are surrounded by smudge sticks. To say these were the days of the intrepid explorer is an understatement. Battling frostbite, blinding snows and winds which would form drifts that became impassible at points. Covered in animal furs (squirrel-skin masks were worn during the coldest months), Kennan recounts what it felt like to be, by most calculations, the first person to ever set foot on certain remote and uncharted areas. For months at a time (when no towns or villages were nearby), the group subsisted on tallow(animal fat or lard), fresh and dried fish (the staple food in towns along the rivers), and meat when available. Tea was consumed in vast quantities. At times supplies ran perilously low. Fortunately they visited many small villages and towns along their journey. Kennan reports that in almost every place they stopped, they were treated like royalty. They were often accorded sumptuous feasts, vodka, brandy, a warm bed and a hot bath. (One particularly humorous section concerns some villagers mistaking the exploring party as being related to the Tsar, Alexander II. Kennan himself was thought to among Tsar Alexander's most trusted advisers.)

I cannot recommend this book enough, especially to younger readers who might be considering traveling for the first time. It is really a book for all ages, filled with great insight, humor and written by someone with a deep and abiding respect for a people and their history, this book is a timeless treasure....

I have Tent Life in hard cover, but it's packed away in one of my many boxes of books that are dear to me, but which I don't have time to re-read or space to shelve in a too small house.

I noticed this when I was reading reviews of "George F. Kennan: An American Life", John Lewis Gaddis' new biography of the diplomat, George F. Kennan. (The author of Tent Life was a cousin of the diplomat's grandfather.)

Tent life is an engaging real life adventure of the older George Kennan's work on a proposed trans-Siberian telegraph line, proposed to link Europe and The Americas via a telegraph line across the Bering Straight. The project was canceled after a second attempt at a trans-Atlantic cable succeeded, but we get a good look at Siberia in the pre-Soviet era.

A good read if you like this sort of thing.

as all of his exploration books this superbly illustrate the hazards mr. kenan went through in his quest to the better uunderstanding of the beautiful planet we live in. his prose is clear and therefore easy to read. it is a pity he did not follow with just a simple map where we more accurately follow his travels.

who would have thought such an 'old book' would be such an easy read....AND...VERY... interesting.... a MUST.... my thoughts come back to it often....

I have to admit that I have a bit of a fascination with Russia and its history, however, the main reason I downloaded this book was because it was free for the kindle and I figured I didn't have anything to lose. Wow, what a read! I was drawn into Mr. Kennon's story right away and it never seemed "old." In fact, I had downloaded it before realizing it was referenced by Ian Frazier in his 2010 book Travels in Siberia. After reading that book, I immediately started this one and I have to say I liked Tent Life in Siberia even better than the more modern book. Tent Life in Siberia really gave you the feeling of traveling through the tundra and the steppes and was more of a travelogue. If you enjoy reading about the lives of native people and about the past, then I believe you will enjoy this book. After reading it, I searched for photos and other information related to Mr. Kennon and his adventures. My only wish was that this edition would have included the illustrations that were apparently included in the print edition. Of course, it was free, so I couldn't really complain. Don't miss out on this great read!