Chasing the Sea
Author: Bissell, Tom
ISBN: 9780375727542
Publisher: RANDOM HOUSE US
Year first published: 15 Nov 2004
Pages: 416
Format: Paperback / softback
From a brilliant young writer, a hilarious, moving, and deeply informed account of an adventure through Uzbekistan to the disappearing Aral Sea. First time in paperback. Vintage Departures.
In 1996, Tom Bissell went to Uzbekistan as a na.ve Peace Corps volunteer. Though he lasted only a few months before illness and personal crisis forced him home, Bissell found himself entranced by this remote land. Five years later he returned to explore the shrinking Aral Sea, destroyed by Soviet irrigation policies. Joining up with an exuberant translator named Rustam, Bissell slips more than once through the clutches of the Uzbek police as he makes his often wild way to the devastated sea.
In Chasing the Sea, Bissell combines the story of his travels with a beguiling chronicle of Uzbekistan's striking culture and long history of violent subjugation by despots from Jenghiz Khan to Joseph Stalin. Alternately amusing and sobering, this is a gripping portrait of a fascinating place, and the debut of a singularly gifted young writer.
ISBN: 9780375727542
Publisher: RANDOM HOUSE US
Year first published: 15 Nov 2004
Pages: 416
Format: Paperback / softback
From a brilliant young writer, a hilarious, moving, and deeply informed account of an adventure through Uzbekistan to the disappearing Aral Sea. First time in paperback. Vintage Departures.
In 1996, Tom Bissell went to Uzbekistan as a na.ve Peace Corps volunteer. Though he lasted only a few months before illness and personal crisis forced him home, Bissell found himself entranced by this remote land. Five years later he returned to explore the shrinking Aral Sea, destroyed by Soviet irrigation policies. Joining up with an exuberant translator named Rustam, Bissell slips more than once through the clutches of the Uzbek police as he makes his often wild way to the devastated sea.
In Chasing the Sea, Bissell combines the story of his travels with a beguiling chronicle of Uzbekistan's striking culture and long history of violent subjugation by despots from Jenghiz Khan to Joseph Stalin. Alternately amusing and sobering, this is a gripping portrait of a fascinating place, and the debut of a singularly gifted young writer.
