Extreme Continental: Blowing Hot and Cold Through Central Asia - Hardcover

Whittell, Giles

4.11

9 ratings by Goodreads

9780575054967: Extreme Continental: Blowing Hot and Cold Through Central Asia

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0575054964 ISBN 13: 9780575054967

Publisher: Victor Gollancz, 1996

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Book by Whittell, Giles

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Review:

In journey that was both whimsical and historical, Giles Whittell followed the trail taken by Stephen Graham, a Scottish reporter for The Times of London in 1914, from the Caspian Sea to Siberia. As he made his way from Volgograd across central Asia to the towering peaks of the Altai Mountains, where China, Kirghizstan, Mongolia and Siberia meet, Whittell paused to jot down dramatic thumbnail sketches of place and scenery and humorous observations. A resilient and persistent traveler, Giles occasionally got off course, and at one point talked his way into watching a rocket launch at Baikonur, a once top-secret Soviet space station.

From Library Journal:

Whittell (Central Asia, Globe Pequot, 1996) intended to retrace the journey of Stephen Graham, whose Through Russian Central Asia was written before the Great War and the Russian Revolution. Whittell embarked on his own journey in 1992 and nominally follows Graham's route but forges his own path through Turmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kirghizstan, and Kazakhstan. He provides fascinating glimpses of contemporary life in the newly independent nations of Central Asia, a region that until recently was inaccessible to Westerners. Always resourceful, he watches a rocket launch, visits the autonomous region of Karakalpakstan, sleeps in a yurt, and travels to a glacier in the Tien Shan Mountains. An unforgettable assortment of locals shower him with hospitality. Illustrations would have further enhanced this otherwise delightful book. Recommended for the armchair traveler.
Ravi Shenoy, Hinsdale P.L., Ill.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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