A Reader's Review of "Imperium"

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Ryszard Kapuściński is without doubt Poland’s greatest reporter. Although his figure has stirred controversy in recent years, I value his craft enormously, setting aside any judgement of him as a person — that is none of my business. I love (!) reading his books and the pleasure they bring is immense every time. This time I revisited Imperium, his study of the Soviet Union.

Imperium is divided into three parts. The first covers 1939–1967 and describes travels through the Soviet Union mainly in the 1950s and ’60s, including Kapuściński’s first encounter with the Empire — the entry of the Red Army into Pinsk, the city where he was born and grew up. The second part observes the disintegrating communist organism through expeditions to the outermost points of the USSR in 1989–1991. The third part offers the journalist’s impressions of the collapse of the Eastern Bloc and its consequences.

Tiziano-Terzani on kapuscinski.info

A Reader's Review of "Imperium"