A review by pearseanderson
The Amur River: Between Russia and China by Colin Thubron

adventurous challenging informative medium-paced

4.0

This is my first Thubron and wow did it pop: an old man on a river between two worlds, what's the more classic story than that? But Thubron makes each page glow with description and glory for the region and its people who have been displaced, oppressed, empowered, and forever altered throughout the centuries of this borderland's history. From keeping exiled kings in fake capitals to steppe fortress last-stands to surreal money-making schemes in the Russian Far East, this book covers a lot of ground and does so in a soothing, crisp, empathetic way for all people involved.