Thom Wheeler is not a man to be put off by the prospect of an uncharted, impractical or downright dangerous journey. Having accidentally introduced his old school friend Vicky to Dmitry, the Russian love of her life, at the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Thom decides to travel to their wedding in Astrakhan in the most obvious and straightforward way: by following the Volga river, from its source over 1,000 miles inland, all the way to the Caspian Sea and a party to remember..

A rich and fascinating exploration of the Volga--the first to fully reveal its vital place in Russian history The longest river in Europe, the Volga stretches over three and a half thousand km from the heart of Russia to the Caspian Sea, separating west from east. The river has played a crucial role in the history of the peoples who are now a part of the Russian Federation--and has united and divided the land through which it flows. Janet Hartley explores the history of Russia through the Volga from the seventh century to the present day. She looks at it as an artery for trade and as a testing ground for the Russian Empire's control of the borderlands, at how it featured in Russian literature and art, and how it was crucial for the outcome of the Second World War at Stalingrad. This vibrant account unearths what life on the river was really like, telling the story of its diverse people and its vital place in Russian history.

Attending a wedding in Astrakhan, Thom decides to travel in the most obvious and straightforward way: by following the Volga river, from its source over 1,000 miles inland. 'The Way a River Went' is an unforgettable and (hopefully) unrepeatable adventure.

This memoir of “a happy childhood in rural Missouri just before the digital revolution [is] a sweet record of a time and a place that was not Always On.” —St. Louis Post-Dispatch Spanning one year of the author’s life—1984—I Will Not Leave You Comfortless is the intimate memoir of a young boy coming to consciousness in small-town Missouri. The year will bring ten-year-old Jeremy first loves, first losses, and a break from the innocence of boyhood that will never be fully repaired. For Jeremy, the seeming security of his life on the family farm is forever shaken by the life-altering events of that pivotal year. Throughout, he recalls the deeply sensual wonders of his rural Midwestern childhood—bicycle rides in September sunlight; the horizon vanishing behind tall grasses—while stories both heart-wrenching and humorous, tragic and triumphant, Jackson weaves past, present, and future into the rich Missouri landscape. “I could smell the mulberries crushed underfoot and the sweet steam of the cinnamon roll Grandma heated in the toaster oven just for Jeremy, hear the ever-increasing volume of an approaching late-spring storm . . . The year of Jeremy Jackson’s life on which he meditates in I Will Not Leave You Comfortless marked his transition from the perfect happiness of childhood to the much more complex reality of adulthood. It records, as well, the abiding comfort that remains—family, home and love.” —Wichita Eagle “Jackson writes about Missouri as the young Hemingway wrote about Michigan: with a clear eye; with hard-edged nostalgia; and (here’s the thing) with brilliance.” —Darin Strauss, author of Half a Life