Russia

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Russia

ISBN 1590480406	Across the Roof of the World, Wilfred Skrede - Wilfred Skrede was nineteen in 1941 when the Nazis occupied his homeland of Norway. Determined to reach a training camp of the free Norwegian Air Force located in Toronto, Canada, the daring young man set off across Russia, Siberia, China, Turkestan and India before finally reaching his destination in far away North America, more than one year later. After the war Skrede wrote about this amazing journey describing in “Across the Roof of the World “ how he made his way along the tracks of Genghis Khan’s hordes, followed the silk caravans from China, crossed the high mountains of Central Asia, and miraculously made his way to freedom. Yet the liberty he sought demanded a high price. Being a Norwegian refugee, he was frequently arrested by various police forces who threatened him with deportation back to his Nazi-occupied homeland, and in communist controlled Sinkiang the young adventurer had his back cracked by a wild truck driver. His most perilous challenge however came when he was forced to ride horseback over the infamous 16,000 foot high Mintaka Pass, a hideous bit of trail known for killing horses and riders alike. The resultant story, told with fortitude, humor and resilience, is thus populated by a host of colourful characters, including famed English mountaineer Eric Shipton, and Tenzing, the Sherpa who went on to conquer Mount Everest. Amply illustrated, “Across the Roof of the World” is an epic equestrian travel tale laced with unforgettable excitement. Go to Amazon.co.uk or Barnes & Noble for more information.
ISBN 1590480074	Count Pompeii - Stallion of the Steppes, Basha O'Reilly - This is a story book for children who love horses! It was written by one of the foremost female equestrian explorers alive today. Basha O'Reilly rode Count Pompeii, the Cossack stallion, more than 2,500 miles from Russia to England. She then made a second trip through the cowboy country of the USA and helped form The Long Riders' Guild, the world's first international association of equestrian travellers. A dedicated horse woman, a mother, and a talented writer, Basha brings all these skills to bear in the exciting new "Little Long Rider Series." Designed for children aged seven to ten, each of the books is based on the historical journey of a real life Long Rider and his or her horse hero. The books are delightfully illustrated with large black and white drawings which can be coloured in by the Little Long Riders. Go to Amazon.co.uk or Barnes & Noble
	Crimean Journal, Fanny Duberly - In this modern age we would call her an embedded journalist, a news reporter who is attached to a military unit involved in an armed conflict. Yet English society in the 1850s encouraged women to act demurely and stay at home, not follow their husbands into combat. Even if Fanny Duberly, the unorthodox author of this best-selling book, noticed that her actions were raising disapproving Victorian eyebrows, that didn’t stop her from riding straight into one of the most brutal wars of the 19th century. Fanny Duberly was just twenty-five when her husband, Captain Henry Duberly, and his unit, the 8th Royal Irish Hussars, were ordered into battle. Rather than remain at home, the avid horsewoman announced that she was packing her side-saddle and going with Henry to Russia’s Crimean Peninsula. The intrepid amateur war correspondent spent the next two years camped alongside her husband and his troops during the course of their brutal campaign. What she saw and recorded in letters home to her sister shocked the English world, for there was little glory but plenty of death. Cholera slew elite officers and lowly enlisted men alike. Horses starved. The wounded lay untended. The dead went unburied. Allies argued. Incompetence was rampant. The Crimea was hell for men and indescribable for a woman on her own. Yet against the odds, Fanny Duberly rode through it all. She witnessed the battle of Balaklava, explored the ruins of captured Sebastopol, dined with lords, drank with soldiers and watched the ill-fated charge of the noble Light Brigade. No account of the Crimean War neglects to mention this courageous lady and her own recollections were turned into a historically accurate book which was published while the author was still risking her life in Russia. Rescued now from an undeserved oblivion, “Crimean Journal,” tells how cities fell and nations argued, while half a million soldiers died in a bitter and largely forgotten conflict. Though no great military male figures emerged, two remarkable women are remembered. Florence Nightingale made her reputation improving the medical needs of soldiers and Fanny Duberly penned this vivid eye witness account of an unnecessary war. Fascinating, remarkable, courageous, mysterious, sympathetic, Fanny Duberly was the Victorian heroine deluxe and this is the true story of her astonishing adventure. Click here to go to Amazon.co.uk or Barnes & Noble.
ISBN 1590480759	From Paris to New York by Land, Harry de Windt - When it came to dash and flair, few nineteenth-century adventure travellers could compete with handsome Harry de Windt. A Fellow of the prestigious Royal Geographic Society of England, De Windt already had a reputation for bravery and foolhardiness. Then he decided to top his own reputation by undertaking a journey too crazy to be considered by anyone else. He announced to a stunned Europe that he was going to leave his adopted home in Paris and journey to New York city. However instead of traveling west, crossing the Atlantic on a ship like everyone else in his day, De Windt proposed to travel east, across the frozen steppes of Siberia by horse-drawn sleigh, over the ice-packs of the Arctic Ocean by dog-sled, through the dark waterways of Canada by boat, and finally past the western deserts of the United States by train, before finally reaching his destination in faraway New York. What followed can only be compared to a Jules Verne fiction, yet is absolutely true. De Windt dined with political exiles in Siberia, almost starved in the Arctic ice fields, and lived through more dangers than a dozen men. Yet through it all this dashing explorer kept his nerve and his panache. Amply illustrated with photographs taken by the author, “From Paris to New York by Land” remains a page-turning thriller of early adventure travel. Please visit Barnes & Noble or Amazon.co.uk
	Riding through Siberia: A Mounted Medical Mission in 1891, Kate Marsden - The author was a nurse in Bulgaria during 1878, caring for the wounded of the war between Russia and Turkey. While there, she saw for herself the plight of lepers, and decided to make a 2000-mile journey to the leper colonies of Yakutsk in the depths of Siberia. She hoped to find a herb which was said to grow there and which was allegedly a cure for leprosy. Although originally she set out to improve the lot of the lepers of India, she ended up trying to help the Yakutsk lepers, and attempted to raise funds to build a hospital for them. Even though she had the support of Queen Victoria, the Empress of Russia and her Lady in Waiting, the Countess Tolstoy, not to mention a pastoral letter from Bishop Meletie of Yakutsk, nobody believed that anyone could make such a journey, least of all a woman! This immensely readable book is a mixture of adventure, extreme hardship and compassion as the author travels the Great Siberian Post Road. “More struggling and floundering through marshes and bogs, more pitch-dark forests, bear-alarms, and frightened horses, and then a terrific thunderstorm,” she writes casually. Kate Marsden became one of the first women to be elected a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in 1892. Go to Barnes & Noble or Amazon.co.uk
ISBN 1590480198	A Ride to Khiva, Frederick Burnaby - He was a giant in his day, in terms of physical strength and literary fame. Captain Frederick Burnaby not only stood over most men in the flesh, he towered over them when it came to cold courage. A case in point was his decision to explore Russia on horseback in 1875, a country which had just been declared off-limits to all foreigners by the Czar. That didn’t intimidate Burnaby. A famous swordsmen and notable linguist, the author set off determined to cross Russia during the height of winter. His goal? The forbidden Central Asian city of Khiva! The resultant tale is a classic of equestrian adventure travel. Burnaby fills every page with a memorable cast of characters, including hard-riding Cossacks, nomadic Tartars, vodka-guzzling sleigh-drivers and a legion of peasant ruffians. “A Ride to Khiva” remains one of the most thrilling tales of the Victorian Age. Go to Amazon.co.uk or Barnes & Noble for more information.
ISBN 1590480554	The Road to the Grey Pamir, Anna Louise Strong - Few equestrian travelers had a more politically radical life than did the American, Anna Louise Strong. Having been raised in Seattle in the early 1900s where she was strongly influenced by the labor riots and social unrest of that time, Strong turned her back on her otherwise normal suburban roots and fled overseas. Denouncing capitalism, she began a series of state-sponsored journeys deep into the secretive heart of the recently formed Soviet Union. Her resulting books described a worker’s paradise and invariably praised the communist experiment. Dictator Joseph Stalin was so pleased with this American convert, he encouraged her to visit the far-flung corners of the new Red Empire. “The Road to the Grey Pamir” is the story of how Strong accompanied a group of Soviet geologists as they rode into the seldom-seen Pamir mountains of faraway Tadjikistan. Mounted on her horse, American Girl, the political renegade turned equestrian explorer soon discovered more adventure than she anticipated. Go to Amazon.co.uk or Barnes & Noble
ISBN 1590480538	Shanghai à Moscou, Madame de Bourboulon - Even though she lived and rode in the adventure-soaked nineteenth century, there were few women who could match the amazing life and exploits of Catherine de Bourboulon. Born in Scotland in the 1820s, Catherine Fanny MacLeod was taken by her mother to live in the United States at an early age. Later the young traveler journeyed on to Mexico. There MacLeod discovered Phillipe de Bourboulon, a Frenchman who not only became the love of her life but harbored a spirit as wild as her own. Soon after they married the newlyweds left Mexico, arriving in China in 1849. They lived among the splendors and intrigues of the Chinese imperial court for ten years before deciding it was time to return to Europe. Then Catherine made an amazing suggestion. Rather than embarking on the first ship bound for France, she and Phillipe would instead ride 12,000 miles through some of the most desolate and dangerous portions of Asia! “Shang-Haï à Moscou” is thus the account of this amazing journey undertaken by the young lovers on horseback from 1859 to 1862. Written in French from diaries Fanny kept during the journey through Mongolia, Siberia and Russia, the book is compiled from a series of magazine articles published in Paris during the mid-nineteenth century. Alas, Catherine MacLeod de Bourboulon died soon after her return to Europe. She was only 38 years old. Much of her exciting story was later plagiarized by Jules Verne for his famed Cossack novel, “Michael Strogoff.” Illustrated with dozens of pen and ink sketches from Catherine’s historic trip, this is the first time the fantastic travel account has been offered for sale in the English speaking world. The rediscovered classic remains fascinating reading for students of the horse or history. Note - because these stories appeared in magazine form, the pages are not numerically sequential. Go to Amazon.co.uk or Barnes & Noble
ISBN 1590480171	Through Russia on a Mustang, Thomas Stevens - Even in the Age of Adventure, there were few men to equal Thomas Stevens! He scouted for the famous African explorer, Henry Morton Stanley. Then in 1866 the American reporter proceeded to pedal a penny-farthing bicycle around the world, seeing the sights in Europe, out-racing a mob in Persia, and baffling the Japanese in Yokohama. No sooner had Stevens returned from his four-year bicycle marathon than he was hired by a New York newspaper to go to Russia on a special assignment. Only this time Stevens was ordered to travel through the heart of the Czar’s vast domain on horseback! Though the intrepid traveler had already lived through dozens of dangers, Russia presented new challenges. Mounted on his faithful horse, Texas, Stevens crossed the Steppes in search of adventure. Cantering across the pages of “Through Russia on a Mustang” is a cast of nineteenth century Russian misfits, peasants, aristocrats—and even famed Cossack Long Rider Dmitry Peshkov. This exciting equestrian tale is illustrated with photographs taken by Stevens during his historic trip. Go to Amazon.co.uk or Barnes & Noble
	Till Häst genom Ryssland, Valdemar Langlet - För tredje gången på tre år går resan österut. Drömmen är att tjäna som dräng hos en Kosackfamilj. Åter kommer den säregna blandning av känslor som å ena sidan är vemod att lämna de kära, å andra sidan en hemlighetsfull eggande undran och en sprittande, glittrandre fröjd, att åter få söka äventyret i den sköna vida världen. Att se Kosacklivet vid Don. Att lära sig Ryska. Att söka den Ryska folksjälen genom att resa från by till by. Att klä sig, äta och deltaga i den vanliga människans arbete – för att kunna dela begreppssfär, tankar och seder. Allt detta utan att fördjupa sig i funderingar över sammhällsproblem, utan snarare för att som en tjänare skildra intrycken från resan till landet vid Don, samt ritten därifrån tillbaka till St. Petersburg. Denna reseskildring rymmer många ögonblicksbilder av möten med människor, från morgonbad med Lev Tolstoi till samtal med Tartarer och fotografering av fagra skördeflickor. Rikt illustrerad med foto och teckningar. For details, please go to Barnes & Noble or amazon.co.uk.

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