Customer Reviews

Tent Life in Siberia: An Incredible Account of Siberian Adventure, Travel, and Survival

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This book is the fascinating travel journal of George Kennan(1845-1924) who was employed by the Russo-American Telegraph company to explore Eastern Siberia in 1865. Leaving from San Francisco in July 1865 Mr. Kennan and three other men set out for Petropavlovski in Kamchatka. From there they began a march to the northwest, meeting the Sea of Okhotsk and then detouring West for a while until heading north, exploring Eastern Siberia as far as the Berings strait, to Anadyrsk. They navigated rivers, saw the Aurua Borealis in February 1867. In the end the exploration did not lead to the laying of telegraph cable, but nevertheless this account should rank with Twain's `Innocents Abroad' as one of the great pieces of American travel literature of the 19th century.

Kennan has a dry sarcastic whit, like Twain, and he writes on many things, from wildlife to flaura, to the people and the country. Most amazing is to consider the great distances covered by such few people. There are many interesting stories and insights into the hard life of Russians in the far east. There are also descriptions of the many native peoples, including Koraks, Kamchatdals, Chookchees, Yookaghirs, Chooances, Yakoots and Gakouts, to the depth of describing rituals, marriages and the languages.

The greatest, almost unforgivable, oversight in this book, one that is almost crippling, is lack of even one map in an account that begs to have many maps given that it is both a travel narrative and one that mentions many obscure places and tribes that no longer exist in the same form today. The reader is left to imagine the position of the Samanka or Penzhina rivers, the villages of Genul, Okoota or Anadyrsk, or the most obscure villages in north Siberia, such as Geezhega or Shestakova.

A great piece of history.

Seth J. Frantzman

This book was recommended to me while I was on the Masai Mara and as I thought the person doing the recommendation was great, I figured the book would be too. So I ordered and I was in for a treat. I suggest that you get out your atlas and follow the trail of these incredibly brave and determined men. The routes they had to take are very convoluted and you need a map to follow the story.
I am a birdwatcher and was thrilled with the description of the Kamtchatka(this is how Kennan spells it) Peninsula and was delighted they got there after a rough voyage across the Pacific Ocean. The most amazing thing about the book is that in the great mass of almost absolutely nothing they would come to a small town where there were stoves, rugs and down comforters plus dances, dinner and teas. It is a wonderful description of life in a time and place that most of us know nothing about.

Wonderfully written account of a physically and emotionally demanding journey into the unfamiliar. The dark humor, along with the detailed and sometimes surprising observations made by Kennan, makes this Siberian adventure tale a great read. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in reading about Russian history and culture, or in travel literature.

The George Kennan who authored this book is the Great-Uncle of the much more famous George Kennan, who dominated the American post-Second World War diplomatic scene, by espousing a policy of "containment" of the Soviet Union. Each Kennan's life was strongly intertwined with America's relationship with Russia. Kennan "the Elder," if you will, worked for a period of time, immediately after the American Civil War, for the Russo-American Telegraph Company. The idea was to provide telegraphic service between America and Europe, via the very long land connection over Russia; the only underwater portion would be under the Bering Straits. The project never reached fruition due to the successful trans-Atlantic cable connection that was completed prior to the finishing of the survey portion of the project in the Russian Far East. But there is no question that there was one successful product: Kennan's fascinating book on his two years of work and travels in this most remote area of the world - even still today so very few visit it.

Kennan's account covers both this remote place, as well as a distant time for the modern reader. It is important to keep in mind that there would be another 25 years of fighting the "aborigines," the American Indians, before the frontier would be closed, after Kennan's account of dealing with their "cousins" in the Russian Far East. Part of the book's fascination is the sheer audacity of the undertaking for the time period. Kennan's book can be irreverent, as these youthful men seem to engage in "fraternity house pranks" in their travels. The geographical and sociological aspects are informative as well. The team of explorers arrives at the largest city of the Kamtchatkan (so spelled in the book) Peninsula--Petropavlovski. The peninsula is famous today, as it was then, for its volcanic activity. From here they travel north, its entire length, leaving the sedentary people of the lower half of the peninsula, whose subsistence is largely provided by salmon, and joining the nomad tribes of the north, the Korak, and others, who owe their existence to the reindeer. Along the way, Kennan entertains the reader with the inhabitant's language, music, costumes, and customs. A special chuckle might be reserved for Kennan's explanation of the "anadyrsk bol" the "disease" women contract which is actually an imposition on "male relatives to further some selfish purpose." For sure, since this was written in the 19th century, Kennan is a creature of his times, so allowance must be made for the use of terms like "savages", and a certain patronizing attitude.

A major part of the team's work is to survey the area between the Pacific bay at Anadyrsk and the northern most part of the Sea of Okhotsk, Penzhina Bay. Overall, it is extremely bleak, flat, largely treeless, and since there is impassable permafrost terrain in the summer, the only time to travel is in the winter. Thus, the author describes, in a rather understated way, what is involved in camping and traveling at temperatures of -30 to -60 F. Yet, somehow, amazingly, no one in their party dies. There is an evocative, beautiful passage of the Aurora Borealis, and as Kennan say: trying to describe it is akin to an inexperienced artist trying to reproduce the brilliant coloring of a Turner landscape with a piece of charcoal.

Aside from the book's 19th Century racial tone, I had some other problems. It sure could be accompanied by a map! And Kennan certainly could have provided a much better explanation of their exploratory objectives. As he says on page 302: "We had not been furnished with instruments for making astronomical observations, could not determine with any kind of accuracy our latitude and longitude, and did not know whether we were two hundred miles from the Pacific Coast or five hundred. How can you determine a route for a telegraph line when you don't know where you are? Thankfully Google knows how long a "verst" is; this unit of distance is not explained in the book either. But the biggest unanswered question is: If you can't travel across the permafrost in the summer months, how could you possible repair a telegraph line strung across it, when it takes only one pole to fall... ? Overall, the endeavor itself just seemed far to disorganized to succeed, which perhaps is the reason it did not.

Overall, a fascinating read of a unique time and place, deserving 4-stars.

This was a fascinating and surprisingly humorous memoir by George Kennan who spent a couple of years in Northeast Siberia checking out the land and people in Siberia in preparation for a trans Siberian telegraph line that would connect America with Europe. This was in 1865 or thereabouts. Surprise ending: they never built the telegraph because a trans-Atlantic cable was successful.

But this book wasn't about telegraphs it is about the nomadic and settled people who lived in this remarkably harsh land 150 years ago. He spent quite a bit of time traveling with nomadic reindeer herding peoples, he traveled about in dog sleds, and describes, in an often hilarious manner, the pathetic lifestyles of the nomadic people who ended up settling in villages (because at one point, regrettably, their reindeer died).

Physically I have some complaints about the book - the font was sort of difficult to read - I think this edition was copied directly from an archaic text. Maybe that adds to the feel of the book - like your reading a hundred year old text. The binding was very tight and I had to wrestle the book open every time I turned a page.

But in spite of that I would call this a classic of ravel literature. And the author was very funny, nearly the entire book is humorous.

Highly recommended.
[...]

This is a true narrative, written by George Kennan, a very accomplished journalist, in 1865, who completed what I would consider, an impossible task!

George Kennan was chosen to lead a group of surveyers whose job it was to survey the Siberian Wilderness in order for Western Union to create a telegraph line across Alaska, the Bering Strait,and Siberia. This telegraph line was to be an important link with European Russia.

It's difficult to imagine being exposed to such harsh elements, and not getting very sick or dying! George Kennan and most of his group had happy, adventurous, dispositions, under unbelieveable circumstances, and survived to tell about it!

They traveled for two years, through snow storms, white-outs, drenching rain and fierce blizzards, sometimes without even a tent. They met many nomads, escaped bear attacks, and practically starved to death. They walked for days in soaking wet clothing, and suffered so many hardships!

I loved this book and could not put it down!

A great travel adventure about life in Siberia circa 1865 including detailed accounts of the people, weather, geography, flora and fauna of the eastern Siberia. I was drawn to this book after reading the wonderful book 'Travels in Siberia' by Ian Frazier Travels in Siberia which chronicles modern travels in Siberia. I am looking forward to reading 'Dersu the Trapper' by V. K. Arseniev and Malcolm Burr about Siberia circa 1905 Dersu the Trapper (Recovered Classics). I very much enjoyed the film 'Dersu Uzala' (1977) Dersu Uzala based on Arseniev's book.

I loved this book so much-- my only regret is that I bought it on Kindle so when I wanted to lend it to my mother-in-law I had to buy her another copy! This is such an enjoyable, exhilarating book-- I feel like I learned a lot but never was bored; I found myself taking out maps and reading other historical facts to supplement because I was so excited. Anyone who likes to travel, or likes to let others do the work and enjoy only the pleasures, will enjoy this book.

Other reviewers have described the content so I'll not elaborate on that. Kennan and his colleagues endured prolonged hardships that would cause many modern adventure travelers to sound like crybabies and he does it with wit and verve. He's a wonderful writer and some of his passages caused me to laugh out loud from pure delight at his descriptive powers. It's also a fascinating look at an exotic world. One of the most enjoyable books I've ever read.

Excellent read for anyone interested in Russa and Siberia. George Kennan writes in a ingaging style with humor, and I couldn't put the book down! Detailed story about living with the Nomadic Koracks in Siberia, Very readable and enjoyble. Highly recomended!!!!