Imperium
Written by Ryszard Kapuscinski
Translated from the Polish by Klara Glowczewska
The Polish journalist whose The Soccer War and The Emperor are counted as classics of contemporary reportage now bears witness in Imperium to the disintegration of the Soviet Union. This magisterial book combines childhood memory with unblinking journalism, a radar for the truth with a keen appreciation of the absurd.
Imperium begins with Ryszard Kapuscinski's account of the Soviet occupation of his town in eastern Poland in 1939. It culminates fifty years later, with a forty-thousand-mile journey that takes him from the haunted corridors of the Kremlin to the abandoned gulag of Kolyma, from a miners' strike in the arctic circle to a panic-stricken bus ride through the war-torn Caucasus.
Out of passivity and paranoia, ethnic hatred and religious fanaticism that have riven two generations of Eastern Europeans, Kapuscinski has composed a symphony for a collapsing empire--a work that translates history into the hopes and sufferings of the human beings condemned to live it.
"Kapuscinski is an enchanting guide, combining boundless stamina, felicitous writing, childish curiosity and the literate authority of a true intellectual. . . There are treasures in this book. . . It is a triumphant combination of bleak history and black comedy."
The New York Times Book Review
"Masterfully blends. . . travel stories, history and personal observations. . . Kapuscinski brilliantly evokes mood, feelings, place. . . his observations [covey] the essence of Soviet life."
Newsweek
RYSZARD KAPUSCINSKI, Poland's most celebrated foreign correspondent, was born in 1932. After graduating with a degree in history from Warsaw University, he was sent to India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan to report for the Polish news, which began his lifelong fascination with the Third World. During four decades reporting on Asia, Latin America, and Africa, he befriended Che Guevara, Salvador Allende, and Patrice Lumumba. He witnessed twenty-seven coups and revolutions and was sentenced to death four times. His books have been translated into nineteen languages. He died in 2007.
Publishing House: Vintage International, New York 1995
SoftCover book measuring 5.2" x 8"
352 pages
English Language Version
All books are shipped through the U.S. Postal Office using Media Mail service. Typically delivery times are between 1 and 2 weeks. Please be advised, certain destinations in the U.S. may take longer.
