Imperium

Ryszard Kapuscinski's last book, The Soccer War -a revelation of the contemporary experience of war -- prompted John le Carre to call the author "the conjurer extraordinary of modern reportage." Now, in Imperium, Kapuscinski gives us a work of equal emotional force and evocative power: a personal, brilliantly detailed exploration of the almost unfathomably complex Soviet empire in our time. He begins with his own childhood memories of the postwar Soviet occupation of Pinsk, in what was then Poland's eastern frontier ("something dreadful and incomprehensible ... in this world that I enter at seven years of age"), and takes us up to 1967, when, as a journalist just starting out, he traveled across a snow-covered and desolate Siberia, and through the Soviet Union's seven southern and Central Asian republics, territories whose individual histories, cultures, and religions he found thriving even within the "stiff, rigorous corset of Soviet power." Between 1989 and 1991, Kapuscinski made a series of extended journeys through the disintegrating Soviet empire, and his account of these forms the heart of the book. Bypassing official institutions and itineraries, he traversed the Soviet territory alone, from the border of Poland to the site of the most infamous gulags in far-eastern Siberia (where "nature pals it up with the executioner"), from above the Arctic Circle to the edge of Afghanistan, visiting dozens of cities and towns and outposts, traveling more than 40,000 miles, venturing into the individual lives of men, women, and children in order to Understand the collapsing but still various larger life of the empire. Bringing the book to a close is a collection of notes which, Kapuscinski writes, "arose in the margins of my journeys"--Reflections on the state of the ex-USSR and on his experience of having watched its fate unfold "on the screen of a television set ... as well as on the screen of the country's ordinary, daily reality, which surrounded me during my travels." It is this "schizophrenic perception in two different dimensions" that enabled Kapuscinski to discover and illuminate the most telling features of a society in dire turmoil. Imperium is a remarkable work from one of the most original and sharply perceptive interpreters of our world -- galvanizing narrative deeply informed by Kapuscinski's limitless curiosity and his passion for truth, and suffused with his vivid sense of the overwhelming importance of history as it is lived, and of our constantly shifting places within it.;First encounters (1939-1967). Pińsk, '39 ; The Trans-Siberian, '58 ; The South, '67 -- From a bird's-eye view (1989-1991). The third Rome ; The temple and the palace ; We look, we cry ; The man on the asphalt mountain ; Fleeing from oneself ; Vorkuta-to freeze in fire ; Tomorrow, the Revolt of the Bashkirs ; Russian mystery play ; Jumping over puddles ; Kolyma, fog and more fog ; The Kremlin: the magic mountain ; The trap ; Central Asia-the destruction of the sea ; Pomona of the little town of Drohobych ; Return to my hometown -- The sequel continues (1992-1993). Ryszard Kapuscinski's last book, The Soccer War -a revelation of the contemporary experience of war -- prompted John le Carre to call the author "the conjurer extraordinary of modern reportage." Now, in Imperium, Kapuscinski gives us a work of equal emotional force and evocative power: a personal, brilliantly detailed exploration of the almost unfathomably complex Soviet empire in our time. He begins with his own childhood memories of the postwar Soviet occupation of Pinsk, in what was then Poland's eastern frontier ("something dreadful and incomprehensible...in this world that I enter at seven years of age"), and takes us up to 1967, when, as a journalist just starting out, he traveled across a snow-covered and desolate Siberia, and through the Soviet Union's seven southern and Central Asian republics, territories whose individual histories, cultures, and religions he found thriving even within the "stiff, rigorous corset of Soviet power." Between 1989 and 1991, Kapuscinski made a series of extended journeys through the disintegrating Soviet empire, and his account of these forms the heart of the book. Bypassing official institutions and itineraries, he traversed the Soviet territory alone, from the border of Poland to the site of the most infamous gulags in far-eastern Siberia (where "nature pals it up with the executioner"), from above the Arctic Circle to the edge of Afghanistan, visiting dozens of cities and towns and outposts, traveling more than 40,000 miles, venturing into the individual lives of men, women, and children in order to Understand the collapsing but still various larger life of the empire. Bringing the book to a close is a collection of notes which, Kapuscinski writes, "arose in the margins of my journeys" -- reflections on the state of the ex-USSR and on his experience of having watched its fate unfold "on the screen of a television set...as well as on the screen of the country's ordinary, daily reality, which surrounded me during my travels." It is this "schizophrenic perception in two different dimensions" that enabled Kapuscinski to discover and illuminate the most telling features of a society in dire turmoil. Imperium is a remarkable work from one of the most original and sharply perceptive interpreters of our world -- galvanizing narrative deeply informed by Kapuscinski's limitless curiosity and his passion for truth, and suffused with his vivid sense of the overwhelming importance of history as it is lived, and of our constantly shifting places within it.

part Diary And Part Reportage, the Soccer War Is A Remarkable Chronicle Of War In The Late Twentieth Century. Between 1958 And 1980, Working Primarily For The Polish Press Agency, Kapuscinski Covered Twenty-seven Revolutions And Coups In Africa, Latin America, And The Middle East. Here, With Characteristic Cogency And Emotional Immediacy, He Recounts The Stories Behind His Official Press Dispatches—searing Firsthand Accounts Of The Frightening, Grotesque, And Comically Absurd Aspects Of Life During War. the Soccer War Is A Singular Work Of Journalism.

publishers Weekly

kapuscinski Reports On Unrest In Africa, Latin America And The Middle East. ``journalism At Its Most Incisive, These Phosphorescent Dispatches From The Front Investigate Third World Wars Of 1958-1976, Probing The Forces Of Political Repression And Societies Stagnating Or In The Throes Of Change,'' Said Pw. (jan.)

'Insightful and important.... A readable, timely and valuable contribution to the understanding of the revolutionary forces at work in Iran.... The reader almost becomes a participant.'—The New York Times Book ReviewIn Shah of Shahs Kapuscinski brings a mythographer's perspective and a novelist's virtuosity to bear on the overthrow of the last Shah of Iran, one of the most infamous of the United States'client-dictators, who resolved to transform his country into'a second America in a generation,'only to be toppled virtually overnight.From his vantage point at the break-up of the old regime, Kapuscinski gives us a compelling history of conspiracy, repression, fanatacism, and revolution. Translated from the Polish by William R. Brand and Katarzyna Mroczkowska-Brand. Haile Selassie, King of Kings, Elect of God, Lion of Judah, His Most Puissant Majesty and Distinguished Highness the Emperor of Ethiopia, reigned from 1930 until he was overthrown by the army in 1974. While the fighting still raged, Ryszard Kapuscinski, Poland's leading foreign correspondent, traveled to Ethiopia to seek out and interview Selassie's servants and closest associates on how the Emperor had ruled and why he fell. This "sensitive, powerful. . .history" (The New York Review of Books) is Kapuscinski's rendition of their accounts—humorous, frightening, sad, groteque—of a man living amidst nearly unimaginable pomp and luxury while his people teetered netween hunger and starvation. Haile Selassie, King of Kings, Elect of God, Lion of Judah, His Most Puissant Majesty and Distinguished Highness the Emperor of Ethiopia, reigned from 1930 until he was overthrown by the army in 1974. While the fighting still raged, Ryszard Kapuscinski, Poland's leading foreign correspondent, traveled to Ethiopia to seek out and interview Selassie's servants and closest associates on how the Emperor had ruled and why he fell. This "sensitive, powerful. . .history" ( The New York Review of Books ) is Kapuscinski's rendition of their accountshumorous, frightening, sad, grotesqueof a man living amidst nearly unimaginable pomp and luxury while his people teetered between hunger and starvation. In Shah of Shahs Kapuscinski brings a mythographer's perspective and a novelist's virtuosity to bear on the overthrow of the last Shah of Iran, one of the most infamous of the United States' client-dictators, who resolved to transform his country into "a second America in a generation," only to be toppled virtually overnight. From his vantage point at the break-up of the old regime, Kapuscinski gives us a compelling history of conspiracy, repression, fanatacism, and revolution. Haile Selassie, King of Kings, Elect of God, Lion of Judah, HIs Most Puissant Majesty and Distinguished Highness the Emperor of Ethiopia, reigned from 1930 until he was overthrown by the army in 1974. While the fighting still raged, Ryszard Kapuściński , Poland's leading foreign correspondent, traveled to Ethiopia to seek out and interview Selassie's servants and closest associates on how the Emperor had ruled and why he fell Study of the power of Ethiopian emperor Hailie Selassie, as he created informants, rivalries, and his image as sole benefactor. Describes the strengths and flaws of autocracy. A firsthand account of how he governed his country and why he fell from power in 1974. "The noted Polish foreign correspondent combines factual reportage and first-hand impressions to build a reflective account of the Shah of Iran, his final weeks in power, and the revolution that sent him into exile." Ryszard Kapuściński ; Translated From The Polish By William R. Brand And Katarzyna Mroczkowska-brand. Translation Of: Szachinszach. Reprint. Originally Published: San Diego : Harcourt Brace, Jovanovich, C1985. The author chronicles his experiences as a foreign correspondent in Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East between 1958 and 1980