Tent Life in Siberia (Paperback)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

First published in 1870, this book is a thrilling account by telegraph operator George Kennan, who signed on to build a telegraph line across Siberia in the 1860s. Though the Trans-Siberian telegraph line failed, we are left today with this tale of virtual first contact with a land and a people.

It is an important Siberian title with many detailed passages people, fish, music, song, costume, marriage ceremonies, language, customs, Siberian tribes, volcanoes, the coasts, and a profusion of others.

At the age of twenty, Kennan was traveling all around eastern Siberia with wandering natives on dogsleds and reindeer sleds, living in yurts and eating local foods, starving at times, camping under snowdrifts at fifty below zero, and mostly just observing and interacting with native peoples, and all this just after the U.S. Civil War.

In the mid-1880s he went back to Siberia to investigate the system of political exile. The resulting Siberia and the Exile System is another great travel book, with dark political overtones.

Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: University Press of the Pacific (October 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0898755980
• ISBN-13: 978-0898755985
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,038,935 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars surprisingly modern, and full of interesting details, June 23, 2001

By	Daniel Mackler (www.iraresoul.com) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tent Life in Siberia (Paperback)

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...

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of my favorite finds!, March 18, 2005

By	Tom Bihn (Port Angeles) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating, humorous, great read., August 30, 2001

By	E. Bauer (Sacramento, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Tent Life in Siberia (Paperback)

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.