Download or read book Sovietistan written by Erika Fatland and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2020-01-07 with total page 473 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan became free of the Soviet Union in 1991. But though they are new to modern statehood, this is a region rich in ancient history, culture, and landscapes unlike anywhere else in the world. Traveling alone, Erika Fatland is a true adventurer in every sense. In Sovietistan, she takes the reader on a compassionate and insightful journey to explore how their Soviet heritage has influenced these countries, with governments experimenting with both democracy and dictatorships. In Kyrgyzstani villages, she meets victims of the tradition of bride snatching; she visits the huge and desolate nuclear testing ground "Polygon" in Kazakhstan; she meets shrimp gatherers on the banks of the dried out Aral Sea; she travels incognito through Turkmenistan, as it is closed to journalists, and she meets German Mennonites that found paradise on the Kyrgyzstani plains 200 years ago. We learn how ancient customs clash with gas production and witness the underlying conflicts in new countries building their futures in nationalist colors. Once the frontier of the Soviet Union, life follows another pace of time. Amidst the treasures of Samarkand and the brutalist Soviet architecture, Sovietistan is a rare and unforgettable travelogue.
Download or read book The Cinema of Soviet Kazakhstan 1925 1991 written by Peter Rollberg and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2021-02-12 with total page 467 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This monograph traces the history of Kazakh filmmaking from its conception as a Soviet cultural construction project to its peak as fully-fledged national cinema to its eventual re-imagining as an art-house phenomenon. The author’s analysis places leading directors—Shaken Aimanov, Abdulla Karsakbaev, Sultan-Akhmet Khodzhikov, Mazhit Begalin—in their sociopolitical and cultural context.
Download or read book The Border written by Erika Fatland and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2021-02-02 with total page 433 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The acclaimed author of Sovietistan travels along the seemingly endless Russian border and reveals the deep and pervasive influence it has had across half the globe. Imperial, communist or autocratic, Russia has been—and remains—a towering and intimidating neighbor. Whether it is North Korea in the Far East through the former Soviet republics in Asia and the Caucasus, or countries on the Caspian Ocean and the Black Sea. What would it be like to traverse the entirety of the Russian periphery to examine its effects on those closest to her? An astute and brilliant combination of lyric travel writing and modern history, The Border is a book about Russia without its author ever entering Russia itself. Fatland gets to the heart of what it has meant to be the neighbor of that mighty, expanding empire throughout history. As we follow Fatland on her journey, we experience the colorful, exciting, tragic and often unbelievable histories of these bordering nations along with their cultures, their people, their landscapes. Sharply observed and wholly absorbing, The Border is a surprising new way to understand a broad part our world.
Download or read book In Search of Kazakhstan written by Christopher Robbins and published by Profile Books. This book was released on 2012-05-10 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The only thing most people know about Kazakhstan is that it is homeland to Borat - and he isn't even real. Actually this vast place - the last unknown inhabited country in the world - is far more surprising and entertaining. For one thing, it is as varied as Europe, combining stupendous wealth, grinding poverty, exotic traditions and a mad dash for modernity. Crisscrossing a vanished land, Christopher Robbins finds Eminem by a shrinking Aral Sea, goes eagle-hunting, visits the scene of Dostoyevsky's doomed first love, takes up residence beside one-time neighbour Leon Trotsky and visits some of the most beautiful, unspoilt places on earth.
Download or read book Journey Into Kazakhstan written by Alexandra George and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since independence in 1991, Kazakhstan, the second largest of the former 15 Soviet Republics, stretching across 3500 kilometers, has been descending into a social and economic abyss. The decline is more tragic because it was the most Westernized of the Soviet Central Asian republics. In Journey into Kazakhstan, the author travels to different regions - the Aral Sea, the Caspian region, the vast central steppelands, the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Polygon, Karaganda, built by Stalin labour camp prisoners, ravaged industrial towns like Shymkent and Kentau, and collapsing state farms. Through on-the-spot reporting the reader will witness how an entire society is descending rapidly back to the pre-industrial era on account of misgovernance and malfeasance and the collapse of education and social welfare.
Download or read book Education Reform and Internationalisation written by David Bridges and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2014-08-28 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collection presents new investigations into the role of heritage languages and the correlation between culture and language from a pedagogic and cosmopolitical point of view.
Download or read book Winter Pasture written by Li Juan and published by Thinkingdom. This book was released on 2021-02-23 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Named one of The Washington Post's Best Travel Books of 2021. "Winter Pasture is Li Juan's crowning achievement, shattering the boundaries between nature writing and personal memoir." —Smithsonian Magazine "Li Juan spent minus-20-degree nights with nomadic herders in the Chinese steppes. You’ll want to join her." —Laura Miller, Slate "Deeply moving...full of humor, introspection and glimpses into a vanishing lifestyle." —The New York Times Book Review Winner of the People's Literature Award, WINTER PASTURE has been a bestselling book in China for several years. Li Juan has been widely lauded in the international literary community for her unique contribution to the narrative non-fiction genre. WINTER PASTURE is her crowning achievement, shattering the boundaries between nature writing and personal memoir. Li Juan and her mother own a small convenience store in the Altai Mountains in Northwestern China, where she writes about her life among grasslands and snowy peaks. To her neighbors' surprise, Li decides to join a family of Kazakh herders as they take their 30 boisterous camels, 500 sheep and over 100 cattle and horses to pasture for the winter. The so-called "winter pasture" occurs in a remote region that stretches from the Ulungur River to the Heavenly Mountains. As she journeys across the vast, seemingly endless sand dunes, she helps herd sheep, rides horses, chases after camels, builds an underground home using manure, gathers snow for water, and more. With a keen eye for the understated elegance of the natural world, and a healthy dose of self-deprecating humor, Li vividly captures both the extraordinary hardships and the ordinary preoccupations of the day-to-day of the men and women struggling to get by in this desolate landscape. Her companions include Cuma, the often drunk but mostly responsible father; his teenage daughter, Kama, who feels the burden of the world on her shoulders and dreams of going to college; his reticent wife, a paragon of decorum against all odds, who is simply known as "sister-in-law." In bringing this faraway world to English language readers here for the first time, Li creates an intimate bond with the rugged people, the remote places and the nomadic lifestyle. In the signature style that made her an international sensation, Li Juan transcends the travel memoir genre to deliver an indelible and immersive reading experience on every page.
Download or read book Sovietistan written by Erika Fatland and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2019-08-29 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A mesmerising trip across Central Asia . . . A fascinating travelogue" Financial Times SHORTLISTED FOR EDWARD STANFORD/LONELY PLANET DEBUT TRAVEL WRITER OF THE YEAR 2020 Erika Fatland takes the reader on a journey that is unknown to even the most seasoned globetrotter. The five former Soviet Republics' Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan all became independent when the Soviet Union fell apart in 1991. How have these countries developed since then? In the Kyrgyzstani villages Erika Fatland meets victims of the widely known tradition of bride snatching; she visits the huge and desolate Polygon in Kazakhstan where the Soviet Union tested explosions of nuclear bombs; she meets Chinese shrimp gatherers on the banks of the dried out Aral Sea and she witnesses the fall of a dictator. She travels incognito through Turkmenistan, a country that is closed to journalists. She meets exhausted human rights activists in Kazakhstan, survivors from the massacre in Osh in 2010, German Menonites that found paradise on the Kyrgyzstani plains 200 years ago. During her travels, she observes how ancient customs clash with gas production and she witnesses the underlying conflicts between ethnic Russians and the majority in a country that is slowly building its future in Nationalist colours. In these countries, that used to be the furthest border of the Soviet Union, life follows another pace of time. Amidst the treasures of Samarkand and the bleakness of Soviet architecture, Erika Fatland moves with her openness towards the people and the landscapes around her. A rare and unforgettable travelogue.
Download or read book Discovering Kazakhstan written by William Jones and published by Mamba Press. This book was released on 2023-07-24 with total page 76 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Embark on an extraordinary journey through the heart of Central Asia with "Discovering Kazakhstan: A Traveler's Guide." Written by seasoned traveler and explorer William Jones, this comprehensive guide is your passport to uncovering the hidden treasures, vibrant culture, and breathtaking landscapes of Kazakhstan. From the bustling streets of Nur-Sultan, the cosmopolitan capital, to the tranquil shores of Lake Issyk-Kul, this guide takes you on a captivating adventure through the diverse regions and rich history of Kazakhstan. Discover ancient Silk Road cities steeped in history, explore nomadic traditions on the vast steppe, and marvel at the rugged beauty of the Tien Shan Mountains. With detailed descriptions of must-visit attractions, practical travel tips, and insider recommendations, "Discovering Kazakhstan" is your indispensable companion for planning the ultimate Central Asian adventure. Whether you're a first-time visitor or a seasoned explorer, this guide has everything you need to make the most of your journey through this fascinating and undiscovered gem of a destination. Packed with stunning photography, insightful commentary, and engaging anecdotes, "Discovering Kazakhstan: A Traveler's Guide" is not just a guidebook—it's an invitation to embark on an unforgettable journey through one of the world's most intriguing and captivating destinations. So grab your passport, pack your bags, and get ready to discover the wonders of Kazakhstan like never before. Your adventure starts here.
Download or read book Environment and Post Soviet Transformation in Kazakhstan s Aral Sea Region written by William Wheeler and published by . This book was released on 2021 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Environment and Post-Soviet Transformation in Kazakhstan's Aral Sea Region explores how the sea's retreat and partial return has impacted the lives of people living in the area.
Download or read book The Border a Journey Around Russia written by ERIKA. FATLAND and published by MacLehose Press. This book was released on 2021-09-16 with total page 608 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book China Road written by Rob Gifford and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2011-05-15 with total page 366 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Running 3,000 miles from the east-coast boomtown of Shanghai to the border of Kazakhstan in the north-west, Route 312 - China's 'Route 66' - is a road that Rob Gifford has always wanted to travel. Gifford's journey and his desire to get to the heart of this country make China Road an outstanding and funny travel narrative - part pilgrimage, part reportage - which illuminates a country on the move.
Download or read book Woman in Exile written by Juliana Starosolska and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2011-05-05 with total page 189 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Juliana Starosolska was taken by the Stalinists from her parents home in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv and deported in a sealed boxcar to a distant and primitive outpost in Siberian Kazakhstan. In Woman in Exile, she records her ordeals in a series of vignettes that capture the horrific, the humane, and even the occasionally humorous aspects of her experience. Her father was arrested by the Stalinists and sent to a forced labor camp deep in Russian Siberia, where he died less than two years later. In the spring of 1940, the rest of his family, who had remained behind in UkraineJuliana; her frail mother, Daria; and her brother, Ihorwere forcibly deported by the Soviet government. They were forced to live and work under the most brutally primitive and backbreaking conditions. After the death of her mother and the reassignment of her brother to a different part of Kazakhstan, Juliana found herself alone. When World War II ended, as a former Polish citizen, Juliana was allowed to leave Kazakhstan for Poland in 1946. She immigrated to the United States in 1967, where she resumed her journalistic and literary career. Now she tells the story of those difficult yearsof her time as a Woman in Exile.
Download or read book The Silent Steppe written by Mukhamet Shai͡akhmetov and published by Stacey International Publishers. This book was released on 2006 with total page 378 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Here is a rare book. It is the first-person story of Mukhamet Shayakhmetov, born into a family of nomadic Kazakh herdsmen in 1922, the year of the consolidation of Soviet rule across his people's vast steppe-land in central Asia, specifically eastern Kazakhstan." "Thus was brought to an end, with dread ideological ruthlessness, a way of life of sanctified interdependence between man and nature. Designated as a kulak, Mukhamet's father was imprisoned as 'an enemy of the people', and his family were stripped of all possessions, including livestock, and ostracised." "Collectivisation of agriculture was forcibly imposed, and famine ensued. In the years 1932-34 alone, well over a million Kazakhs died: more than a quarter of the indigenous population across a territory as great as western Europe. Of all this, the outside world knew - or chose to know - nothing." "Somewhat as Wild Swans laid bare the truth of Mao's China, so The Silent Steppe awakens the reader to the scale of suffering of millions in Soviet central Asia under Stalin." "Shayakhmetov takes his story to his recruitment in the Red Army, his wounding at Stalingrad, and his long trek home as a discharged solider at the age of 21. He is today in his mid-eighties."--BOOK JACKET.
Download or read book An Illustrated History of Kazakhstan written by Jeremy Tredinnick and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This lavishly illustrated book reveals the full history of the heart of Central Asia across the ages, focusing on the region that is modern-day Kazakhstan. Using essays from renowned archaeologists, historians and scholars as the core of each chapter, this book explains Kazakhstan s long and complex history. This flowing narrative is complemented ......
Download or read book Kazakhstan Unveiled written by Nisha Dabriwal and published by Independently Published. This book was released on 2023-10-07 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Kazakhstan Unveiled: A Traveler's Guide to the Heart of Central Asia" is a comprehensive travel guidebook that offers readers an in-depth exploration of Kazakhstan, a vast and diverse country in Central Asia. Written by experienced travel writer and adventurer, Laurel Wilson, the book provides valuable insights into the rich culture, history, and natural beauty of Kazakhstan. The guidebook is organized to help travelers plan their journey through Kazakhstan effectively. It covers various aspects of travel, including cultural experiences in cities like Almaty and Nur-Sultan, nomadic traditions in the Kazakh steppe, and adventures in the country's stunning natural landscapes, such as the Charyn Canyon and the Altai Mountains. Key features of "Kazakhstan Unveiled" include: Detailed Itineraries: The book offers sample itineraries for different types of travelers, whether they're interested in culture, adventure, or nomadic experiences. These itineraries help readers make the most of their time in Kazakhstan. Practical Tips: The guide is filled with practical advice on transportation, accommodation, dining, and safety. It also provides tips on navigating language barriers and understanding local customs. Cultural Insights: Readers can delve into Kazakhstan's rich history and culture through engaging narratives and stories about the country's traditions, festivals, and people. Stunning Photography: The book is accompanied by beautiful photographs that capture the country's diverse landscapes, from snow-capped mountains to rolling steppe. Local Recommendations: Laurel Wilson includes recommendations for local tour operators, accommodations, and dining options, helping travelers make informed choices. "Kazakhstan Unveiled" is a valuable resource for anyone planning to explore the heart of Central Asia. Whether you're a seasoned traveler seeking new adventures or someone curious about the unique culture and landscapes of Kazakhstan, this guidebook serves as a trusted companion for your journey. It's an invitation to uncover the hidden gems and untold stories of a country that often remains off the beaten path for many travelers.
