Farewell to Russia: A Journey Through the Former USSR
By: Joe Luc Barnes
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They might have said goodbye to the USSR – but can they ever say farewell to Russia?
Snow, concrete, the KGB: that’s the cliché of the Soviet Union. But its collapse in 1991 sparked a story at once messier and more compelling than any stereotype. Thirty-five years on, Moscow may brim with champagne bars and blacked-out Mercedes – but what became of the other fourteen states that emerged from the ashes?
In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Joe Luc Barnes crossed the former USSR to find out, from the gleaming towers of Azerbaijan to the former gulags of Kazakhstan, tech-hungry Estonia to the minarets of Uzbekistan. Along the way, he finds epic mountains, cobblestoned old towns and storied Silk Road cities – not to mention Georgian wine, Armenian brandy and vodka in industrial supply.
Travelling thousands of miles, he gathers a chorus of voices: nomads in mountain yurts, TikTok-fuelled activists, small-town taxi drivers and many who still look uneasily over their shoulder for the secret police. With insight, empathy and a healthy dose of mordant wit, he asks what has happened – and why – to the people and their hopes and dreams since the great promise of independence.
By turns hilarious, angry and heart-stopping, this is a darkly comic, deeply human portrait of a region the West still misunderstands – and a warning of what happens when empires break but the habits of empire refuse to die.
If you loved The Silk Roads, Nothing to Envy or The Places in Between, and have a soft spot for Bill Bryson, clear space on your shelf: this is the book for you.
- Joe Luc Barnes speaks fluent Russian and is one of the few people, if not the only person, to have visited all 15 former Soviet countries since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
- Offers essential insights into a restless region where Russia, China and the West all vie for dominance.
- Covers: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Krygyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Moldova, Ukraine – and, of course, Russia.
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‘Brilliantly introduces us to faraway countries about which we should know more’
- Tim Marshall, author of Prisoners of Geography -
‘A sparklingly erudite and entertaining odyssey through the shock-waves of the USSR’s demise, this book does what good travel writing should: make the world feel more diverse and more wonderful.’
- Nick Hunt, author of Outlandish: Walking Europe's Unlikely Landscapes -
‘Barnes has absorbed the dark sense of humour that is part of the legacy of empire, and has a keen eye for the other common features that the USSR has left behind.’
- Lewis Baston, author of Borderlines: A History of Europe in 29 Borders -
‘This book is a thought-provoking journey through the lands once ruled by Russia, by an author with an empathetic manner and a sharp eye for the absurd. Barnes teases out the complexities of these diverse countries, stretching from the eastern fringes of Europe to Central Asia’s borders with China, as they navigate their way to nationhood.’
- Joanna Lillis, author of Silk Mirage: Through the Looking Glass in Uzbekistan -
‘Insightful … [Barnes] gives space for local voices and opinions, and sacrifices his liver to all sorts of tipples in the process.’
- Chris Aslan, author of Unravelling the Silk Road