This journey on the Trans-Siberian Railroad takes the viewer from the palaces of St. Petersburg and the busy streets of Moscow to the vastness of Siberia with its jewel, Lake Baikal. Reach the Pacific at the port city of Vladivostok and then continue by air to the remote Kamchatka Peninsula.

An acclaimed travel writer and novelist, in his eightieth year, takes a dramatic journey on the little known Far East Asian river that forms the highly contested border between Russia and China, covering almost 3,000 miles.

"Siberia's story is traditionally one of exiles, penal colonies, and unmarked graves. Yet there is another tale to tell. Dotted throughout this remote land are pianos--grand instruments created during the boom years of the nineteenth century, as well as humble, Soviet-made uprights that found their way into equally modest homes. They tell the story of how, ever since entering Russian culture under the westernizing influence of Catherine the Great,...

When the author, a British journalist, moves to Moscow, she discovers an apartment on Romanov Street that was once home to the Soviet elite. One of the most infamous neighbors was Stalin's henchman Vyacheslav Molotov, who was a participant in the collectivizations and the Great Purge, and also an ardent bibliophile. In what was formerly his apartment, she uncovers an extensive library and an old magic lantern, two things that lead her on an extraordinary...

"Portrait of the mid-size city of Chelyabinsk and how it is faring in the new Russia"-- "A revealing look into the lives of ordinary Russians. More than twenty years ago, the longtime NPR correspondent Anne GMore than twenty years ago, the longtime NPR correspondent Anne Garrels began to visit the region of Chelyabinsk, an aging military-industrial center a thousand miles east of Moscow that is home to the Russian nuclear program. Her goal was to...