Border Interests

COLIN Thubron's The Amur River - Between Russia And China received high praise from people who should know.

"Top Form - full of insights," was the verdict of Monty Python performer-turned travel writer Michael Palin, while travel writer-turned historian William Dalrymple called the book, published in 2021, "a masterpiece."

Travels on a border separating two historical superpowers

I would not argue with those assessments, and indeed believe the book is up there with Thubron's other classics, Mirror To Damascus, The Hills Of Adonis, Journey Into Cyprus, Among The Russians, Behind The Wall: A Journey Through China, The Silk Road: Beyond The Celestial Kingdom, In Siberia and Shadow Of The Silk Road.
A discordant note on The Amur River was struck by The New York Times, which accused Thubron of failing to make "connections of any sort between the world through which he travels and the one in which we live as if the places he explores exist on some other planet."
But that surely misses the point that readers are quite capable of making their own connections, without having them spoonfed or being told how to think.

By the way, Thurbon fans might spot a glaring omission from my list of his classic travel writings - 2011's To A Mountain In Tibet.

I have seen it in bookshops many times, but somehow mistakenly thought I had it.

Having checked my shelves, I find that is not the case, so writing this short review has helped me in that I have remedied the situation by ordering a copy through Amazon.