A look at Siberia as it is today. Farley Mowat covered 29,000 miles on two long journeys through the easternmost regions of the Soviet Union, from Irkutsk on the shores of Lake Baikal to Magaden on the Pacific, from Tchersky on the Arctic Ocean to Yakutsk, one of the coldest places in the world. His book shows that those once desolate, snow-covered plains are now a teeming and productive country, bursting with energy, full of innovation and irreverence. Most especially, he writes about the people he met there, from airline pilots to ancient reindeer herdswomen. In all of them he found generosity, affection, and a fierce love for the land. Mowat considered his Siberian trip a myth-shattering experience. So will his readers.Cover by Robert Geissamann