Black Dragon River: A Journey Down the Amur River at the Borderlands of Empire

One of Asia’s great rivers delineates one of the world’s most colorful backwaters: Russia’s decrepit far-eastern provinces by the Chinese border. In this absorbing travelogue and history, Economist editor Ziegler ranges along the 2,826-mile Amur river from its Mongolian headwaters to its Pacific mouth on what proves to be a grand adventure. He rides horseback through Genghis Khan’s hunting grounds; journeys by train to the moribund cities on the river’s banks, poking around in their post-industrial ruins and still-thriving prisons; and trusts his life to Russian drivers. Along the way he fills in the historical backdrop of Russia’s love-hate relationship with the East. It’s an entertaining and often appalling saga, featuring greedy fur-traders, rough-hewn Cossacks, stolid peasants, and idealistic Decembrist aristocrats in exile. Ziegler lists countless atrocities committed against the region’s native inhabitants by colonizers and visits as many dusty museums paying vainglorious homage to those colonizers. Ziegler happily loses himself in the twisting tributaries of the river and its lore and weaves in gorgeous evocations of the landscape and piquant reportage on the odd and vibrant characters who people it. This is a fascinating portrait of the Amur and its enduring appeal as a symbol of Russia’s tarnished present. (Nov.)