To the Edge of the World

Release year: 2013

Pages: 304

Publisher: Atlantic Books

ISBN: 1610394526

Softback | Hardback | Online

What people are saying..

I bought this book in preparation to go on the Trans Siberian Rail Road, and having read it, I can’t wait to go. The first chapters about the politics surrounding the decision to build the road are a bit boring, but the rest is super good. The author uses the various previous works on the rail road very well, but also uses his own experiences – without making a personal travel book. It also has a good balance between too much detail and shallowness. A great read!

- Jacob la Cour

This fascinating book traces not only the eventful history of the development of this world famous railway line running for over 5,600 miles from Moscow to Vladivostok, but it’s impact on the Russian, and especially the Siberian people, and consequently the way Russia views itself and the World. The Trans Siberian Railway has had a massive influence, not only on Russia, China and the far east but has influenced the geo politics of the 20th Century.

Christian Wolmar is a very knowledgeable writer and writes in a way that engages the reader right the way through the book. HIGHLY recommend!

- W. Ingham-barrow

This is another compelling book from Christian Wolmar. I am not a railway buff, but his works always cover so much more than the railway around which they are based. This one covers the building of the trans-Siberian railway (or, more accurately, railways) and the whole political, social and economic world that surrounded it. Given that this covers the final years or tsarist Russia, the First World War, the revolution, and then the Soviet union, it is a wide ranging work. The author manages to stick to the theme, whilst covering all the outside influences that affected it. It is very readable, and really does make you think about how one structure can have such far-reaching effects. Whether I agreed totally with all the authors conclusions and connections I’m not sure, but the point is he made me think about them. That is why I read history books in the first place!

- Simon Binning

His writing was excellent and he made everything very clear. It was a welcome learning experience politically as well as geographically and the author made the progression of Russian recent history make a lot of sense. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and wish I had learned more about Russia many years ago. The involvement of England in the grab for territory was very illuminating and the first world war was an utter disgrace visited upon populations of young men by devious politicians and corrupt aristocracy.
Breathtaking book that flew along. Thoroughly recommended.

- J O'Connor

Railway books can veer into nerdiness but not Christian Woolmar’s history of the Trans Siberian. It is absolutely fascinating, the personalities, the politics, the adversity, the economics. Found it excellent preparation for our trip on the Trans Sib.

- Hotwired (Amazon)

The Story of the Trans-Siberian Railway

It is the world’s longest railway line. But it is so much more than that, too. The Trans-Siberian stretches nearly 6,000 miles between Moscow and Vladivostok on the Pacific Coast and was the most ambitious railway project in the nineteenth century. A journey on the railway evokes a romantic roam through the Russian steppes, but also reminds travellers of the vastness of our world and hints at the hardships that were endured in its construction.

To the Edge of the World tells the story of the Trans-Siberian railway from its conception and construction under Tsar Alexander III, to the crazy northern extension, the Baikal Amur Mainline, the world’s costliest rail project, ordered by Brezhnev The Transsiberian may have been an overambitious project, but today it is a vital artery for Siberia and its construction changed history. The book also explores the crucial role the line played in both the Russian Civil War -Trotsky famously used an armoured carriage as his command post – and the Second World War, during which the railway saved the country from certain defeat.

Like the author’s previous railway histories, it focuses on the personalities, as well as the political and economic events, that lay behind one of the most extraordinary engineering triumphs of the nineteenth century. For anyone interested in Russian history, or who is planning to travel on the Trans-Siberian, this is an essential read.

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What people are saying..

I bought this book in preparation to go on the Trans Siberian Rail Road, and having read it, I can’t wait to go. The first chapters about the politics surrounding the decision to build the road are a bit boring, but the rest is super good. The author uses the various previous works on the rail road very well, but also uses his own experiences – without making a personal travel book. It also has a good balance between too much detail and shallowness. A great read!

- Jacob la Cour

This fascinating book traces not only the eventful history of the development of this world famous railway line running for over 5,600 miles from Moscow to Vladivostok, but it’s impact on the Russian, and especially the Siberian people, and consequently the way Russia views itself and the World. The Trans Siberian Railway has had a massive influence, not only on Russia, China and the far east but has influenced the geo politics of the 20th Century.

Christian Wolmar is a very knowledgeable writer and writes in a way that engages the reader right the way through the book. HIGHLY recommend!

- W. Ingham-barrow

This is another compelling book from Christian Wolmar. I am not a railway buff, but his works always cover so much more than the railway around which they are based. This one covers the building of the trans-Siberian railway (or, more accurately, railways) and the whole political, social and economic world that surrounded it. Given that this covers the final years or tsarist Russia, the First World War, the revolution, and then the Soviet union, it is a wide ranging work. The author manages to stick to the theme, whilst covering all the outside influences that affected it. It is very readable, and really does make you think about how one structure can have such far-reaching effects. Whether I agreed totally with all the authors conclusions and connections I’m not sure, but the point is he made me think about them. That is why I read history books in the first place!

- Simon Binning

His writing was excellent and he made everything very clear. It was a welcome learning experience politically as well as geographically and the author made the progression of Russian recent history make a lot of sense. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and wish I had learned more about Russia many years ago. The involvement of England in the grab for territory was very illuminating and the first world war was an utter disgrace visited upon populations of young men by devious politicians and corrupt aristocracy.
Breathtaking book that flew along. Thoroughly recommended.

- J O'Connor

Railway books can veer into nerdiness but not Christian Woolmar’s history of the Trans Siberian. It is absolutely fascinating, the personalities, the politics, the adversity, the economics. Found it excellent preparation for our trip on the Trans Sib.

- Hotwired (Amazon)

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