Far away from the trendy cafes, designer boutiques, and political
protests and crackdowns in Moscow, the real Russia exists. Midnight
in Siberia chronicles David Greene's journey on the Trans-Siberian
Railway, a 6,000-mile cross-country trip from Moscow to the Pacific
port of Vladivostok. In quadruple-bunked cabins and stopover towns
sprinkled across the country's snowy landscape, Greene speaks with
ordinary Russians about how their lives have changed in the
post-Soviet years. These travels offer a glimpse of the new
Russia-a nation that boasts open elections and newfound prosperity
but continues to endure oppression, corruption, a dwindling
population, and stark inequality. We follow Greene as he finds
opportunity and hardship embodied in his fellow train travelers and
in conversations with residents of towns throughout Siberia. We
meet Nadezhda, an entrepreneur who runs a small hotel in Ishim,
fighting through corrupt layers of bureaucracy every day. Greene
spends a joyous evening with a group of babushkas who made
international headlines as runners-up at the Eurovision singing
competition. They sing Beatles covers, alongside their traditional
songs, finding that music and companionship can heal wounds from
the past. In Novosibirsk, Greene has tea with Alexei, who runs the
carpet company his mother began after the Soviet collapse and has
mixed feelings about a government in which his family has done
quite well. And in Chelyabinsk, a hunt for space debris after a
meteorite landing leads Greene to a young man orphaned as a
teenager, forced into military service, and now figuring out if any
of his dreams are possible. Midnight in Siberia is a lively travel
narrative filled with humor, adventure, and insight. It opens a
window onto that country's complicated relationship with democracy
and offers a rare look into the soul of twenty-first-century
Russia.
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