RED ODYSSEY

Akchurin documents the waning days of the Soviet Union in this travelogue.

In 1990, Moscow-based journalist and poet Akchurin decided to take a road trip. The Soviet Union was in the process of unraveling due to localized democratic revolts and ethnic conflicts, and Akchurin wanted to witness these events firsthand (and maybe write a book about them). An ethnic Tartar, Akchurin was particularly interested in the non-European, resource-rich republics of Central Asia: “More than fifty million people live in the Moslem republics in the southern backbone of the Soviet Disunion, well-known for its vast number of natural treasures, which include everything from huge undeveloped oilfields and major gas pipelines to gold and uranium mines.” The journey ended up being a 10,000-mile overland odyssey through the Soviet republics of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tadzhikistan, Kirghizia, Turkmenia, and Azerbaijan. Along the way, Akchurin encountered militiamen, nomads, ex-prisoners, squatters, one irate hotel maid, and even a Tajik rock musician, all of whom offered opinions on the ways the recent upheavals had changed their lives (often for the worse). Though he did not realize it at the time, Akchurin was in the process of creating what he refers to as a “death mask of what was formerly the Soviet Union,” one dusty mile at a time. The book offers a rare window into the myriad overlapping peoples of Central Asia and their varying relationships with Russia and Communist rule. The author never exoticizes, though he is happy to give his political opinions freely (both to the reader and to the people he meets on his journey). The book was originally published in 1992, shortly after Akchurin made his journey; it is now a work of history. In addition to capturing a remarkable moment in world affairs, Akchurin reminds us that nations and empires are not permanent entities but dynamic organisms made up of millions of individual lives.

A fascinating time capsule that blends memoir, politics, and reportage.